Let’s Get Moving Together! Toolkit for Grassroots Sport Leaders Well Received

The Let’s Get Moving Together! A Toolkit for Grassroots Sport Leaders toolkit was published by ICSSPE in May this year and has been successfully distributed amongst ICSSPE members and interested parties since then – both as a digital and print version. The toolkit is a free resource that is available for download for anyone interested: https://bit.ly/GRSToolkit22

The aim of the toolkit is to empower current and future leaders with appropriate knowledge and skills and to be a useful guide for anyone wanting to plan and deliver grassroots sport events or programmes in their communities. It is designed to provide a step-by-step guidance for grassroots sport programming and addresses organisational issues and challenges that those in the field struggle with and do not always have the knowledge or guidance to address. The toolkit aims to contribute to positive social change by empowering especially young sport leaders from Africa and beyond.

Consequently, ICSSPE members like e.g., the African Union Sports Council Region 5, the Nelson Mandela University, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, the University of Venda, the University of Nigeria as well as NOWSPAR were amongst the first recipients of the limited print edition with everyone welcoming the publication.

“We are so grateful to be the recipient of the toolkit. It is such a rich tool for the implementation of sport in communities. It holds all the essential information, from designing, implementing, and evaluating inclusive programmes,” Ms. Khuliso Matshovhana, who is a Lecturer at the Department of Biokinetics, Recreation and Sport Science at the University of Venda in South Africa, expressed her thanks on receiving the toolkit.

“We aim to share the toolkit with some placement sites where we place our students for Work Integrated learning and community sports centres. It will act as a guide for staff, students, and sport coordinators when creating and putting into action grassroots sporting activities that will benefit local communities and South Africa to achieve the goals of the white paper on Sport and Recreation South Africa.”

Other Grassroots sport leaders, who received the toolkit included amongst others The Gambia National Sports Council, the National University of Applied Sciences in Ghana, the Mount Kenya University, Watoto Wasoka in Uganda, Youth Without Borders Tunisia, the Fundamental School Ngagara in Burundi, as well as advocators in Namibia.

"The toolkit is very resourceful. It offers step-by-step ‘how-tos’ on grassroot sports. I particularly love the toolkit because of its contextualised examples and guides. In general, I find it relevant for the work we do at Watoto Wasoka, and it’s my prayer that other colleagues can use it in their work with Sport for Development," Francis Mugoya, Executive Director Watoto Wasoka, Uganda said.

Khuzaifa Mugerwa Saali, who is an Impact Officer at Watoto Wasoka, especially praised the practical relevance of the toolkit: “Actually, the toolkit gave me an amazing view of what necessities I need for starting grass roots sports activities from the stakeholders, beneficiaries to the human resources and how to manage them.

Most importantly, I found out more about the monitoring, evaluation and learning part where tracking progress of the activities is so crucial and writing event reports, which is a crucial part in all our programmes at Watoto Wasoka. Also, five thematic areas are visible: Active, Safe, Inclusive, Fun, Social.”

Over 10,000 readers online and over 600 downloads so far, underline the relevance of this resource with the digital version continuing to be accessible for everyone, ensuring a wide reach and the availability of the toolkit to grassroots leaders, educators, students, and organisations around the world.

“I am grateful for the toolkit for grassroots you sent to me. Personally, I knew only grassroots in football focussing on children (6-12 years), but now I learnt that grassroots sport in general can be used to develop a group of people, community to transmit different values such as discipline, equality, etc. This toolkit will help us to get more knowledge to organise sport activities in a better way. On behalf of the students and other people, who will benefit from the different activities organised, I thank all members of ICSSPE, who elaborated this toolkit for grassroots sport leaders,” Martine Nimbona, Grassroots sports leader and Sports Teacher at the Fundamental School Ngagara, Burundi said.

The toolkit is the result of ICSSPE’s Empowering Future Leaders in International Grassroots Sport project that was realised with the financial support of the UNESCO Participation Programme. It was based on the UN Agenda 2030, which has designated education as a sustainable development goal. The United Nations’ SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 4 (education), SDG 16 (peace and justice), SDG 17 (partnerships) as well as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 formed the foundation for the delivery of several online symposium training workshops for emerging leaders in grassroots sport from Namibia, South Africa and Zambia, who developed the toolkit as part of the programme.

The project would not have been possible without the contributions of a team of experienced facilitators from the ICSSPE membership from South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Germany, and Australia who each delivered sessions on specific topics, sharing their expertise across various domains in the sport sector.

Toolkit Authors:

• Nana Akua Achiaa Adom-Aboagya (South Africa),
• Beverley-Rae Henckert (Namibia),
• Albertina Talonheni Mbalili (Namibia),
• Leepile Motlhaolwa (South Africa),
• Mwaka Musiyani (Zambia),
• Febby Phiri (Zambia), and
• Bronwyn Ann Sumption (South Africa)
• Reviewer: Darlene Kluka (USA).

Facilitators:

• Annette Hofmann (Germany), Professor of Sport Studies at Ludwigsburg University of Education and Vice-President of the German Gymnastics Federation;
• Jackie Lauff (Australia), CEO and co-founder Sport Matters;
• Valereis Geldenhuys (Namibia), former President of the Namibian Gymnastics Federation, Physical Education Teacher, Commonwealth Gymnastics Confederation Executive and FIG Gender Equality Commission Member;
• Cora Burnett (South Africa), Professor at the University of Johannesburg and Director UJ Olympic Studies Centre;
• Anneliese Goslin (South Africa), Emeritus Professor in Sport Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africa;
• Katongo Bwalya Moonga (Zambia), Executive Director National Organisation for Women in Sport Physical Activity and Recreation (NOWSPAR), ICSSPE Executive Board Member and Physical Education and Sport lecturer at the University of Zambia were also part of the expert group leading the project.

The entire project was managed by ICSSPE Executive Office members Detlef Dumon, Pascal Camara, Cora Zillich and Andrea Blume.

For more on the project see HERE.