RESPECT International Blog

by Maria Brundin

Sports can change lives – that is the main idea of Africa Change International (ACI), a Ghana-based non-governmental organization (NGO) working to improve the life of children through sports.

By offering children the opportunity to play sports, such as athletics, basketball, hockey and swimming, ACI’s aim is to keep children from dropping out of school.

Its training requires the children to attend school and teaches them about health. This not only raises the educational level but also gives children the opportunity to get scholarships for higher education and skills required to earn them a livelihood.

Peter Osei, Executive Director of ACI, talks about the many advantages of sports. Being an active participant develops children’s self-esteem and activates them, preventing them from roaming the streets.

“[Sports] will make them spend less time in sedentary pursuits such as violence, crime and other the social vices,” Mr. Osei says.

For the moment, 400 children aged 10 to11 are participating in the ACI programs. The children attend school in the morning, come to the ACI’s computer laboratory for the ICT Training and take their sports classes in the afternoon.

Sports have the ability to unite people, regardless of race, language and politics. They teach participants respect and teamwork. They are also one of the few arenas where everyone plays on equal terms. Where skills, not background, determine success.

In the future ACI hopes to build an extensive sports academy and recruit children who are underprivileged or living on the streets. ACI also wishes to expand beyond the borders of Ghana to other African countries.

ACI looks “to employ training skills in sports, computer literacy and education to espouse equity in social policies that address livelihood opportunities for socially excluded children and young people.

“We want to help them succeed in future even without the existence of ACI.”