The “Get on the Coach Train” campaign is a new programme from streetfootballworld network member Skillshare International coaches young football trainers to get involved with social development in Africa.

The initiative, launched last December, will further Skillshare International’s aim of promoting new talent with leadership qualities. Young people who are passionate about football will be enabled to pass on their own skills as team players and motivators to others, thereby contributing to social development through sport.

As the participants discover new possibilities for football-based development programmes, they will also identify problems in their own communities more clearly and provide young people with important tactics for coping with everyday problems.

Experience in past Coaching For Hope programmes by Skillshare International in Mali, South Africa and Burkina Faso have shown that both the young coaches as well as their students will benefit significantly from the programme. Combining sport and fresh air with important social skills and education about their environment gives young people renewed courage for personal challenges in the future.

Translated by Carl Richter