Alive and Kicking - 90min's 'Football Tackles' charity of the week
Donate £15 here and give 45 young people access to sport
A football can impact lives long before players lace up their boots and long after the final whistle blows.
At Alive and Kicking, they believe a football can make a difference throughout its lifecycle. They are the world’s only not-for-profit football manufacturer and their ethically produced footballs empower and strengthen communities in a number of different ways – creating access to ethical jobs, play and vital health education.
Alive and Kicking exist to create happier, healthier, more empowered communities.
They achieve this by producing a football like no other - creating access to jobs, play and vital health education.
In other words, they 'Make. Play. Live.'
Make
The need: Over 42% of people in sub-Saharan Africa are living below the poverty line meaning their income is $1.90 or less per day. Although unemployment rates in sub-Saharan Africa have been dropping, over 70% of jobs are classed as vulnerable. This means that workers can have limited access to social protection schemes, are often faced with low and highly volatile earnings, and may be forced to work in unsafe conditions.
What Alive and Kicking do: Through the production of high-quality sports balls, they create ethical employment for adults from vulnerable job groups and drive self-sustaining communities. Since opening their doors they have produced 1,064,370 sports balls, created 1,103 ethical jobs and contributed over £5.47m to the local economy.
Play
The need: Playing conditions across sub-Saharan Africa vary widely due to climate and access to facilities. As a result, a standard synthetic ball can last as little as a few weeks. With balls often donated from overseas, what can seem like a kind gift often turns into a piece of waste within hours of it being kicked or thrown for the first time.
What Alive and Kicking do: Through their community partnerships they give young people facing disadvantage regular access to sport, play and exercise. Over the last 17 years they have given 8,670,825 children across 87 countries free access to play through their growing ball library network and careful ball donations. Using the profits made from selling sports balls, plus additional support from fundraising and partnerships, Alive and Kicking strategically donate and lend locally made durable balls. Their balls are proven to last up to eight times longer than a standard synthetic one, and 10 years of research has shown that each donated ball reaches 45 young people.
Live
The need: Despite significant progress in the last half century, sub-Saharan Africa still faces serious challenges in dealing with deadly disease as well as physical and mental health. Malaria is reported to keep more children out of school in Africa than any other disease. 20 million people live with HIV, including two million children.
What Alive and Kicking do: Through their sport based award-winning health education programmes, they give young people facing disadvantage ongoing access to health education and services, delivered directly through football coaching. By training 1,405 youth educators to deliver programmes in their own communities, they have reached 112,745 young people.