Sport4Change

Our Mission Statement

The WCSSL aims to use football as a means of involving adults and children that live, work and sleep on the streets (generally referred to as Street People), and children at risk (children who’s personal, social, economic and health circumstances make then vulnerable to a life on the streets), in positive activities that will assist them in moving off the streets to better lives.

Executive Summary

The WCSSL is an initiative of NGOs, Faith Based Organizations, Community Based Organizations, Local Networks of Care and the Departments of Social Development and Sports and Recreation in the City of Cape Town.

The project was initiated as an partnership between the City of Cape Town and the various NGOs and community based organizations working on the issue of street children.

These organizations came together in June 2006 and established a steering committee tasked with the responsibility of launching a Street Football League that resonated with the broader objectives of the Smile A Child Campaign and the various strategies used by NGOs to deal with the issue of street children.

These bodies came together in the WCSSL because of an acute awareness of the role that a sport such as football can play in changing the lives of people, especially children.

Achievements

• Establishment of WCSSL Steering Committee
• Participation of Steering Committee in preparation for HWC 2006 –held in
• Participation on Social Dialogue Conference at HWC 2006
• Equipment of HWC 2006
• Inaugural Street Football Tournament
• Second Tournament
• Night Football tournament
• Launch of WCSSL
• HWC Trials involving 130 players
• Community tournaments in Grassy Park, Mannenberg, Heideveld, Paarl
• Participation in HWC 2007

Programmes

We use football as a means to further our core social objectives, which is the mobilization, organisation and reintegration of street people into back mainstream society.

The League provides a structured 4 a- side football programme for Street Children/Children at Risk through structured and high quality training/coaching that involves football skills, fitness, safe preparation and training techniques, healthy living and diet advice. Players will also participate in regular matches /competitions involving all teams registered in the league.

The reason for using the 4 a–side format is because it lends itself perfectly to the overall social objectives of the WCSSL.

We partner NGOs and Community Based Organizations that work with our target groups and the NGOs provide the specialized programmes that are integrated into our football programme.

• We address, in partnership with NGOs and the City of Cape Town’s Smile a Child Campaign, the underlying causes that lead to children deciding to live on the streets. These causes are many – they include, poverty, parental and family abuse, drug and substance abuse and addictions, sexual abuse. The League does not present itself as the solution to all of these problems but we believe that our activities can play a meaningful role in the following ways:

Outreach Programme- where we use football to reach out to children and adults that otherwise would be difficult to engage with. Our methodology is to base our activities in local communities – with an emphasis on those communities that research has shown are popular communities of origin

Community–Based Football – our objective is to provide all of our target communities with the basic equipment to run football programmes at a local level.

Life Skills - All of our activities have an educational and counselling component attached to it. Children that are attracted to our football programmes and who are in need of specialised assistance and attention are referred to NGOs that can provide such assistance. If such programmes are not offered by any NGO the League will source the necessary service providers.