Resounding success Young Coaches Education Programme in Rwanda

Resounding success Young Coaches Education Programme in Rwanda

During Rwanda’s genocide in 1994, an estimated 800’000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the span of just 100 days and more than two million Rwandans fled the country in its aftermath. Over 20 years later, the nation is still recovering from the consequences and the ongoing repatriation process. Most recently, Rwanda has additionally been faced with an influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi: With the First Congo War in 1996 and the intensified violence in the East since 2012, Rwanda has taken in some 74’000 refugees from the DRC; and a further 87’000 from Burundi due to the nation’s political unrests since 2015.

Today, Rwanda hosts over 160’000 refugees who are settled in urban areas and 6 refugee camps coordinated by the United Nation’s High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR). Almost 80% of the refugee population is made up of women and children, including over 2’000 unaccompanied minors. Refugee children and youth are especially at risk of violence, abuse, rape, neglect and thus particularly prone to negative coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol or survival sex. Despite these issues, the camps often lack services and meaningful leisure activities that target those children’s needs for specific support.

After a successful implementation of a Young Coach Education Programme in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan in 2016, the Football Club Social Alliance (FCSA) is now educating 100 Young Coaches selected from 6 different refugee camps in Rwanda to become grassroots football coaches and community leaders. The programme aims to increase the children’s safety and security, bolster their relationships with peers and the community, empower girls and provide them with equal access to sports, and to strengthen resilience in Young Coaches and children.