DREAM Team Football Academy
Half of Rwanda’s population is under 18. This means that children and youth in Rwanda need to be supported, empowered and encouraged as they have a crucial role in the future of the country. Kayisire Jacques has developed a Football and ICT Skills Training program which helps rejuvenate the Rwandan youth, increase their self-esteem, promote peace, reconciliation and unity and inspire a joyful spirit. The program will empower children through both football and computer skills.
Life skills are personal and social skills required for people to function confidently and competently with themselves, with other people, and with the wider community. Most children in developed countries gain these skills at school and through their parents. In Rwanda, high rates of poverty forces many parents to work long hours to make a living for the family, limiting their possibility to act as positive role models for and transfer life skills to their children.
Jacques Kaysire runs Dream Team, which uses football trainings and competitions as a platform for teaching Rwandan youth about life skills e.g. environmental protection, gender equality, personal health and hygiene, peace awareness, as well as the importance of physical fitness. The approach goes beyond the football field to help children succeed in all aspects of their life, with the football field as the catalyst where children come together. "Dream Team players have to bring their mark sheets so that we see their academic performance," Jacques says. "If we see that it is not so good, we arrange a one-on-one meeting with parents to find out the cause of the low performance and we look for solutions together."