The Communication Initiative Network

Where communication and media are central to social and economic development

E-magazines


Average Rating: 5 out of 5 (1 ratings submitted)

Football for an HIV-Free Generation

Region

Africa

Programme Summary

Football for an HIV-Free Generation (F4) is a collaborative initiative by the Africa Broadcast Media Partnership (ABMP), Coxswain Social Investment Plus (CSI+), Grassroot Soccer (GRS), loveLife, and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The project seeks to: help reduce the rate of HIV infection among young Africans; re-engage young people across Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS; and help boost leadership and increased country-level focus and funding of more concerted large scale HIV-prevention across Africa. Designed to tap into the energy surrounding the 2010 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Soccer World Cup, the project combines a sustained media campaign with community-level outreach and education programmes, using soccer to promote healthy living and responsible choices among African youth.

Communication Strategies

The large-scale pan-African initiative uses a three-pronged strategy to mobilise youth:

  • Community Based Model: The community-based outreach and services component builds on the models developed by GRS and loveLife that use soccer as a tool for HIV prevention education. The initiative will expand through a social franchising model collaborating with and using peer motivation and youth leadership development to build the capacity of existing local community-based organisations. An initial focal point of the initiative will be to support the educational content of the Football for Hope Centers that are being donated in 15 African countries as part of FIFA's 20 Centres for 2010 Campaign.
  • Sustained Media Campaign: The media campaign builds on the commitment of airtime and other resources from the broadcast companies to develop media programming that connects with the synergies of the 2010 World Cup, as well as the ABMP's existing campaign promoting the concept of an HIV-free Generation. About 59 public and private African broadcast media companies with a prospective audience in excess of 200 million have so far committed airtime and production resources. ABMP members have also committed themselves to developing and broadcasting HIV/AIDS-related programming in association with 2010 broadcasts and to sustaining the campaign across their general daily programme schedules. The media campaign is anchored by public service announcements (PSAs) for radio and television which were launched on World AIDS Day, December 1 2008, and will be reinforced by longer-form programming, including the "Imagine Afrika" reality show and talk and magazine shows.
  • Advocacy, Partnership, and Resource Development: A concerted advocacy campaign to promote new leadership in support of more concerted HIV prevention and increased resources (in-country and international) will be driven by UNAIDS and CSI+ with the aim of encouraging scaled up prevention across Africa.

Skillz Magazine is a key educational tool of F4. First published nationwide in South Africa on February 1 2009 via the Sunday Times Newspaper and distributed to 2,300 schools throughout South Africa, the quarterly publication features the world's and South Africa's top soccer stars teaching life lessons and encouraging young people to make a positive difference in their communities. Skillz teaches the youth how to follow "3 Skillz" - "Know the Game", "Build Your Team", and "Make Your Move" - to achieve their goals, stay strong when faced with challenges, and protect themselves and others from HIV and AIDS. Skillz' Coach's Corner features a simple activity that teachers can use to teach students about healthy living.

For more information, visit the F4 website.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS.

Partners

Africa Broadcast Media Partnership (ABMP), Coxswain Social Investment plus (CSI+), Grassroot Soccer (GRS), loveLife, and United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Contact

Africa Broadcast Media Partnership (ABMP)


Grace Matlhape
LoveLife
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 523 1106


Kirk Friedrich
Grassroot Soccer
Tel: +27 76 867 6659


Charlotte Obidairo
Coxswain Social Investment Plus
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 510 0068


Andy Seale
United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Tel: +27 11 517 1660

Source

Football for an HIV-Free Generation website on February 17 2009; email from Kirk Friedrich to The Communication Initiative on September 3 2009; and Grassroot Soccer website, accessed September 3 2009.


Placed on the Communication Initiative site February 23 2009
Last Updated September 03 2009



How useful did you find the knowledge and contacts on this page to your work?


5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
Your rating: None

Post your comments (review comments from others below):

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

COMMENTS POSTED


Hope you are familiar with my book on African women and HIV/AIDS

"African Women’s Unique Vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS: Communication Perspectives and Promises" (Palgrave Macmillan), by Linda K. Fuller, examines the biomedical, socio-cultural, economic, legal/political, and educational aspects faced by real women in Africa, at the same time offering areas of hope in terms of communication for development case studies and role models. Based on the author’s hands-on experience working in West Africa with a number of HIV/AIDS and media organizations, it is reader/researcher friendly, providing more than 800 references and helpful appendices with some 900 acronyms, contact data for 450+ African HIV/AIDS-related organizations, African terms, websites, African embassies and liaisons, media, billboards, African AIDS-related films, and much more.

Help Seed The CI Network

Jobs and more...

Journalist/Reader Connection

What are the best possibilities for journalist-readership connections? (you may choose more than one; please add clarifying comments)