Location: Cape Coast, Ghana

Centre Host: Play Soccer Ghana

Status: The centre opened on March 24, 2012.

Mar. 20, 2012: Football for Hope Centre in Ghana ready to open

Jan. 20, 2011: Three more Football for Hope Centres begin construction

Cape Coast is one of the most historic cities in West Africa. It used to be the capital of Ghana under the colonial administration before the seat was moved to Accra. It has a host of educational institutions, including Ghana’s first secondardy school, Mfantsipim School, which was established in 1876. Mfantsipim School graciously donated the land on which the Oguaa Football for Hope Centre—Oguaa is the local name for Cape Coast—will be built. Four Play Soccer Ghana Board Members and Kodwo Morgan, Programme Director for Play Soccer Ghana, graduated from Mfantsipim, as did Kofi Annan. Ghanaian football also started in Cape Coast, with the first official football team being established in 1903.
 
The local population in the Coastal Belt region of Eastern Ghana are Ghanaians and Africans from diverse cultural backgrounds who are employed mainly in educational institutions and the fishing industry. The community enjoys reasonably high levels of literacy, but homelessness is a growing issue, and young people in the area who are living on the street struggle to take advantage of educational opportunities.

By harnessing the passion of football, Play Soccer Ghana provides underprivileged young people, particularly homeless individuals, with educational support and help in developing literacy skills. The organisation was launched in 2001 as Play Soccer’s first pilot programme, and has since grown to 12 sites with nearly 900 young participants. Play Soccer Ghana’s year-round 48-week holistic curriculum teaches health and social life skills and football through weekly activity-based educational sessions. The programme also works with young children to encourage early childhood development and lifelong learning. Local young people are trained as volunteer instructors, building their leadership skills and maximising volunteerism and community service.

Since 2000, US-based Play Soccer has provided holistic, recreational sport for development programmes for children aged 5-14 in Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, Senegal, Cameroon and South Africa. As well as offering educational support and health education, Play Soccer aims to encourage girls to participate in football and the Play Soccer programmes.

Play Soccer’s core curriculum will be offered at the centre alongside a community learning and media programme and the Oguaaman Street League. The curriculum consists of 48 sessions that each address three thematic fields: social skills and values (leadership, anger and frustration management, honesty), health skills (malaria, cholera and HIV prevention, general information about the human body) and football (techniques, drills and rules). In the community learning and media centre the young participants will have access to technology-based education, including edutainment and IT and media training for both children and adults.

The Oguaaman Street League is the third pillar of the centre’s programme. It is a recreational football league that targets street children and young people who are no longer receiving formal education. These leagues aim to bring at-risk youth into centre activities. The idea is to connect the participants in this league with complementary activities and services from the community that further their personal health and development as productive, engaged citizens. 

Wahab Musah
Play Soccer Ghana
Oguaa Football for Hope Centre Manager
Wahab104@hotmail.com
+233 244934527

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