GAME in Ghana IMPACT

Game in ghana

game’s activities in ghana 2020-2021 In Ghana, GAME and DUNK are empowering youth leaders by offering a free education to become volunteer coaches and role models in street sports and civil society. The young volunteers lead practices in street football and street basketball for local children and youths in GAME Zones in Ghana.

This article highlights the learnings and impact especially from the Ghana Girls GOALS Program conducted from June 2020 to May 2021.

GHAN GIRLS’ GOALS project The overall objective of the Ghana Girls GOALS project was to empower youth and atrisk girls living in deprived communities in Accra and Tamale by providing them the opportunity to participate in street sports and through that learn to protect their rights. GAME and DUNK are also aiming at an overall improvement of knowledge about child protection and health.

Girls attendance in weekly street sports activities went from 29% to 41% from 2020-2021

A total of 126 youth has been trained as Playmakers with using GAME’s youth empowerment method.

Out of 126 youths who have been trained as Playmakers we saw an increase in trained female role models from 24 to 35% from 2020-2021.

The project successfully refurbished and activated 7 local communities creating safe spaces to play for children in Accra and Tamale.

Increase in attendances in street sports activities from 9,519 to 11,672 attendances from 2020-2021.

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The Playmaker Program is making a positive impact by empowering girls to engage themselves in sporting activities and that is super cool. A first, I thought it was only guys that can coach but the Playmaker Program allows females to also coach.

-Kwesi Boateng, Playmaker in Ghana

equal participation in sports GAME’s Playmaker Program offers youth an education as volunteer street sports instructors and role models. The training equips young people to lead weekly practices in street sports and street culture for local children and youth. Empowerment, life skills, teamwork, gender equality, and civil society is part of the volunteer education.

The Playmaker Program consists of annual weekend education camps, weekly training in local GAME Zones and annual events like GAME Finals and Street GAME. GAME and its local partner DUNK has successfully implemented The Playmaker Program in Ghana and through the ‘Ghana Girls’ GOALS’ project a special focus has been added on advocating for girls’ equal participation in sports. The educational topics delivered at Playmaker Camps and workshops, such as gender sensitivity, gender rights, sexual education and child protection, has contributed to achieving great outcomes regarding equal participation in sports.

GENDER EQUALITY One of the main aspects of the Ghana Girls’ GOALS project was to improve gender participation through integrated sports which means by empowering girls, making them feel safe, educating the community about gender equity and changing the barriers for women and girls in sports.

This has resulted in girls’ attendances percentage going from 29% to 41% from 2020-2021 as a reaction on GAME and DUNK’s efforts and thematic work on advocating for girls’ participation in sports.

According to the Playmakers, there has been a change of their own mindset through the Playmaker Program, which has become useful in working with girl attendance and equal rights: “Having a fair idea on gender equality with the help of the Playmaker Program I solved a situation where some guys did not want to allow a girl to play basketball because they said she was a girl. I then explained to them that, girls and boys have equal rights in every field.”

The educational topics around gender equity has also had an impact on the male Playmakers: “At first, I thought that, girls did not have certain rights like we the boys but through this project I learnt a lot about gender equality which has shaped my thoughts about girls and women and that made me feel that, the Playmaker Program is creating positive impacts in my community,” says Appiah Abraham, 21, Playmaker in Ghana.

A total of 126 youth were educated through GAME’s Playmaker Program from 2020-2021.

INCREASED DIVERSITY The aim of the project was not only to have a positive influence on girls participation but also on diversity as a whole in the communities. We saw an increase in religious backgrounds among the Playmakers from 2020-2021.

Before there was a clear majority of Christians with 63%, while 36% were Muslims and no representatives of traditional religions. 6 months later the ratio changed to 52% Christians, 45% Muslims and 2% traditional religions.

Hopefully this will break down barriers and lower the threshold for participating in communities despite different backgrounds. According to one of the Playmakers, this has been an eye openeer: “The program taught me how to tolerate the views of others, handle situations better and how to make life easier for youth through sports and culture,” Lantam Muslima, 18, Playmaker in Ghana.

Interviews and surveys throughout the project To measure if the project led to the anticipated outcomes GAME & DUNK conducted interviews and handed out surveys gathering information and opinions from the Playmakers, children and parents. Playmakers filled in a baseline survey (98 replies) and a follow-up survey (70 replies) about half a year later to measure their progress.

safe spaces To measure the anticipated outcomes GAME & DUNK conducted interviews and handed out surveys gathering information and opinions from the Playmakers, children and parents.

In the GAME Zones, 51% of the children stated that they did not have a safe place to practice sports before the establishment of the GAME Zones.

Making courts safer, more inviting and more fun to inspire and strengthen the communities is a priority for GAME. In this program it has once again shown to be a vital focus point in order to get more children and youth active.

“We used to have a very rough and unpleasant basketball court but now, our community court has been renovated with the help of the program and a lot of children come over to play at the court because they feel safer now than they used to,” says Christian Sackey, 19, Playmaker in Ghana.

By providing safe spaces for practicing sports, the level of weekly physical activity increased immensely as 46% stated they did not do any sports before joining the GAME Zone practices. Now 96% states say they are more physically active since joining GAME and DUNK’s activities.

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We used to have a very rough and unpleasant basketball court but now, our community court has been renovated with the help of the program and a lot of children come over to play at the court because they feel safer now than they used to.

-Christian Sackey, 19, Playmaker in Ghana.

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, CONFIDENCE AND SOCIAL SKILLS

The basis of the education of the Playmakers is the Empowerment Model. The three levels in the model - the individual, the social and the community life skills are the fundamentals behind working with GAME volunteers in all countries, programs and houses.

The life skills are set to benefit the youth in their sports practices but also in other areas of life. According to 96% of the Ghanaian Playmakers the project achieved this goal.

In particular, 98% indicated that they felt more comfortable at solving conflicts now and 100% saw themselves as a role model for their communities. The boost in confidence is highlighted by several of the Playmakers which GAME and DUNK has been interviewing from 2020-2021: “The most significant change I have observed in myself since joining this program is my ability to work in a team and an increased level of confidence.”

Accordingly, all of the Playmakers replied in surveys that the Playmaker Program increased their ability to coordinate in a team and to unite individuals to a community working towards a common goal.

Another life skill that showed improvement in the surveys was the ability to handle problems comfortably with the number increasing from 87% to 96%. One of the Playmakers explains: “I used to think violence was the only way to solve issues. I’m quick tempered and through the various camps I can now control my temper,” Abdul Salim, 23, Playmaker in Ghana.

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There was a time I didn’t have the courage to speak in public but with the help of the program, I have been able to overcome that challenge.

-Agboklu Godwin Tsatsu, Playmaker in Ghana

IMPACT ON CHILDREN

Besides the Playmakers, the children attending the weekly street sports practices run by the Playmakers also experienced gaining the aforementioned life skills.

97% of the children agreed that GAME taught them skills that would be valuable in other areas of life. This included better problem-solving skills (95% agreement), higher confidence levels (97%) but also the ability to concentrate and be on time (97%). These findings are supported in the interviews with the Playmakers: “Due to the program, most of the kids in my community have changed their bad habits and I’m really impressed to see their parents come around the GAME Zone to thank the team for doing a great job,” says Simon Guggisberg Arthur, 20, Playmaker in Ghana.

With an amount of 11,672 attendances for the weekly activities, it is safe to say, that GAME and DUNK has impacted lots of children in Accra and Tamale in Ghana.

Huzaifa Isshaku, 21 years old Playmaker, sums up the overall positive impact by GAME and DUNK in one of the conducted interviews:

“Before the program was introduced to my community in the Sagnarigu district, most children here didn’t have anything to do due to the closure of schools caused by corona. Now, they are engaged in a really meaningful program which is great. The Playmaker Program is an outstanding initiative and I would want more zones to be created in the Northern Region of Ghana.”

CHILDREN AND GENDER EQUALITY The work on gender equity, which has been introduced through workshops at the Playmaker Camps, has already shown in the surveys as 96% of the children agreed that girls and boys should have the same opportunities in life which is an increase of 7% from 2020-2021. 95% also stated that due to the Playmaker Program they got more knowledge on gender rights and 91% agreed that they feel comfortable having a coach of opposite sex.

In an interview, Playmaker Kwesi Boateng highlighted how GAME and DUNK positively influenced the whole community in terms of gender equity: “The Playmaker Program is making a positive impact by empowering girls to engage themselves in sporting activities and that is super cooool. A first, I thought it was only guys that can coach but the Playmaker Program allows females to also coach.”

Not only did girls become more empowered, but children of all genders seem collectively empowered as a group looking at the conducted surveys and interviews.

98% of children agreed that they found new friends through the GAME Zone activities and since 97% stated they met people of different backgrounds.

INCREASE IN OVERALL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Not only did we see an improvement in the Playmaker’s and children’s confidence and social skills but there was also an increase in their overall physical activity from 2020-2021 in Ghana.

Considering the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic that limited on the possibilities to participate in and run GAME Zone activities, the numbers of overall physical activity from 2020-2021 increased.

The attendances in the weekly street sports activities rose from 9,519 to 11,672. The percentage increased from 19%-25% of being active with sports for more than 6 hours a week while the group of Playmakers being active for less than an hour a week decreased from 11%-4%.

inclusion of parents

In GAME’s quest to include more girls and secure children’s rights, the parents play an important role. That is why a total of 3 workshops were held with attendance of 118 parents and community leaders through the project.

In an earlier GAME project in Ghana 45% of the parents showed engagement in the area of development in future programs. In the Ghana Girls’ GOALS project 91% of the children now states that their parents are supportive of their participation in sports and 79% highlighted that their parents are actively involved in GAME Zone activities.

This positive development has also been noted by 20 year old Mabel Lartey, Playmaker: “During GAME practices, I see so many parents coming around to watch us train with their wards. I really see the program creating positive change because we have a safe space renovated through the program.”

She also found how her role as Playmaker provides her with knowledge and confidence to step up for children’s rights in her community: “There was a situation where a parent wouldn’t allow the child to come for GAME practice but through what I was taught as a Playmaker, I was able to convince the parent to allow the child to attend practice.”

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There was a situation where a parent wouldn’t allow the child to come for GAME practice but through what I was taught as a Playmaker, I was able to convince the parent to allow the child to attend practice.

-Mabel Lartey, 20 years old, Playmaker in Ghana