The pilot program was launched in Brazil, Ecuador, and Uruguay. It trained more than 3,200 young people and nearly 50 institutions contributed to implement this sports-based training methodology between 2005 and 2009. The program has now been expanded and replicated in many countries across the region, reaching more than 12,000 youth in Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Uruguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A Ganar has proven effective by working in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas, and has also been adapted to work with disabled people.
Evaluations show that 70 percent of the participants graduate from the program, and over 65% of graduates secure formal employment, return to school, or start a business within one year. Additionally, more than 200 businesses have participated in A Ganar by hosting internships, hiring youth, providing mentors, or sponsoring training. However, a quasi-experimental evaluation of the program implemented in Mexico does not find statistically significant effects. The Tree of Life Program ( Programa Árbol de la Vida ) aims to promote education, with a particular focus on youth employment. This program uses sports as a tool for social development, seeking to transform the lives of children and young people from low- income and at-risk communities.
By improving quality of life indicators, the program also seeks to prevent violence. The program was carried out in Brazil (Betim) reaching 9,000 children and adolescents between 3 and 18 years old. It succeeded in reducing the social vulnerability of participants by improving their social and educational conditions. Preliminary evidence shows a 40 percent reduction in illiteracy, and a 24 percent and 59 percent increase in primary and secondary education, respectively.
Pescaíto Program (Program of social inclusion and sustainability) not only seeks to develop practical job skills by practicing sports but also to promote equal opportunity, social inclusion, and urban sustainability. This initiative focuses on at-risk children and youth in urban settlements characterized by extreme poverty and high levels of violence in the Pescaíto area of Santa Marta, Colombia. Activities that aim to develop lifelong skills include: (i) training and soccer matches to promote good decision making and develop values and skills for life; (ii) promoting interaction between the sports program and the family to broaden the impact on the community; and (iii) strengthening relationships with stakeholders that facilitate development of the project. Activities that attempt to build urban sustainability and capacity building include: (i) providing high-quality comprehensive care (nutrition, education, and care) for children from gestation to five years of age; (ii) training community leaders with the knowledge and values to develop both collective and individual rights as well as responsibilities; (iii) promoting participation in democratic spaces; among others
The program’s methodology is wide-reaching and encourages peaceful conflict resolution, gender equality, drug use prevention, sexual education, retention in formal education, the proper use of leisure time and skills for including young people aged 15-17 in the labor market. Expected results include an increase in: (i) academic performance and school attendance; (ii) comprehension skills and an improved ability to avoid violence; and (iii) employment opportunities for young people; better overall nutrition and health is anticipated.
Leaders and other community members should improve skills to develop and manage community projects and enhance community facilities. The program was launched at the end of 2016 and results are not yet available. The objective of the program Improving Academics and Lifelong Outcomes In Children And Youth In Manizales ( Mejoramiento Resultados Académicos y de Vida en Niños y Jóvenes en Manizales ) is to improve academic and lifelong outcomes with sports. Implemented in Manizales, Colombia, the program has four components.
The first one involves designing and implementing a sports-based program for improving academics and lifelong outcomes for 500 children and youth between the ages of 10 and 15 in Ciudadela Norte, Manizales. It is experiential in nature, and blends physical activity (soccer and at least one other sport) with activities specifically designed to boost cognitive, non-cognitive and socioemotional skills (e.g., academics, self- esteem, perseverance, conflict resolution, respect for diversity, ethics, community building, leadership, and empowerment).
The program also aims to reduce violence. In addition to boosting academic performance, the program is expected to build basic competencies associated with positive outcomes in life (e.g., self-esteem, less violence behavior, goal setting, perseverance, conflict resolution) which will be measured with a series of tests developed with the Office of the Mayor of Manizales and Fundación Colombianitos. The Carrefour Sporting Center ( Centre Sportif de Carrefour ) pilot program supported the development of extra-curricular sports in the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti. Specifically, it provided children and youth with enjoyable sports- and activity-based learning opportunities to enhance their physical, cognitive and emotional development.
The program supported the rehabilitation of the center, its equipment, and operational costs as well as the provision of snacks while encouraging young people to play an active and positive role in their communities. The program targeted children 6 to 14 years old living or attending school within a 1.5-kilometer radius of the Centre Sportif de Carrefour, Haiti. So far, it has reached approximately 14,500 children (10 percent of the population)
The program was subdivided into a school year program and a summer camp program. The first introduced children and youth to diverse sport skills and disciplines and used age-appropriate games and educational activities to foster positive values, teach life skills, and educate participants about a range of environmental and health themes relevant to their daily lives. The summer camp program resembled the school year program but with a higher proportion of more vulnerable and out-of- school children. The program offered 20 hours of supervised exercise per week and 20 hours of workshops on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS,
family planning and cholera. The Hope Sporting Center ( Centre Sport pour L’Espoir ) program aimed to build a high-level sports infrastructure operated by the International Olympic Committee in Haiti, with a team trained to provide young people with access to sports and other programs. The Center, inaugurated in 2014, offers open access to a variety of sports, provides athletes with high-level training conditions, and enables national federations to improve the level of elite sport in the country. The Center also offers access to cultural, educational, and social development programs. The Center is also an arena for promoting teamwork, fair play, and mutual understanding—values that are important far beyond the playing field. The key beneficiaries are young people of Haiti, as well as schools and communities. The Center hosted 100 athletes in its first phase of construction and accommodates 180 athletes when it is in full operation
lastly, Training of Public Officials in Sports Management ( Capacitación para Funcionarios Públicos en Gerencia Deportiva ) through an online course and international seminars on the organization of mega-events, trains public officials in the following fields: new models of collaborative governance, evaluation of these new models, and lessons learned in establishing public-private partnerships. The program was carried out in Brazil and approximately 200 mid-level public servants benefited; Argentina will replicate the program in the Youth Olympics 2018
