Lifeskills: Football for Water

Football for Water

Football for Water is a public-private partnership (PPP) consisting of the following organizations: Royal Netherlands Football Association, Unicef Netherlands, Simavi, Vitens Evides international, Aqua for All, Akvo and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The main goal of the program is to improve drinking water and sanitation facilities at 1,100 schools in Kenya, Ghana and Mozambique. Furthermore, more than 700,000 school children will be taught life skills related to hand washing, clean drinking water and improved sanitation through football and life skills coaches (WorldCoaches).

Read more about Akvo's involvement in our blog: Football becomes a bridge to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

History

During the celebration of UN World Water Day on 22 March 2012 in Wageningen, the new program 'Football for Water' was announced by the Director of KNVB Bert van Oostveen. The KNVB works together with Unicef, Simavi,Vitens Evides International, Aqua for All, Akvo and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The public-private partnership is characterized by 50-50 contribution by private partners and the Dutch government.

The partnership will provide 750,000 children in Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique with a healthy environment and at the same time awareness on personal hygiene will be raised. Drinking water and sanitation facilities will be installed through (local partners of) e.g. Unicef, Simavi and Vitens Evides International. The KNVB, with local partners, will educate WorldCoaches in order to establish behavioral change and will set up school football competitions. Specifically for this program, a new Life Skills Manual was developed for the subjects in the field of WASH by the University of Utrecht. The program will run from April 2012 until March 2016.

The Football for Water Projects

• Football for Water in Mozambique - The Football for Water is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative led by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs that aims at linking the Dutch Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector’s proven capacities with regard to WASH infrastructure provision.
• Football for Water in Ghana - The Football for Water is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative led by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs that aims at linking the Dutch Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector’s proven capacities with regard to WASH infrastructure provision.
• Football for Water in Migori - Football for Water is a unique cooperation between - on the one hand - the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector and - on the other hand - the world of football. This project's ultimate goal is to improve access to WASH infrastructure and to establish behavioral change in WASH behavior for children in primary schools through football in Kenya.
• Football for Water in Kisumu - Football for Water is a unique cooperation between the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector and the world of football. This project's ultimate goal is to improve access to WASH infrastructure and to establish behavioral change in WASH behavior for children in primary schools through football in Kenya.

Explore over 30 Football for Water projects here!

Football for Water Manuals

Basic WASH Manual

Issues of health and hygiene are crucial to every human life. Good hygiene prevents you and your players from infections and diseases, such as diarrhoea. Proper hygiene practices enable you to maintain your dignity and to reach your goals in life.

You play an important role in the hygiene practices of your players. As a WorldCoach, you are more than just a football coach. You can deliver hygiene messages to your players. You can show your team members the importance of hand washing and drinking safe water for example. You can encourage them to develop good habits and to live a healthy life.

The earlier children and youths learn about good hygiene, the higher the chances of achieving and sustaining positive results in their generation and the community as a whole.

This manual will support you, as a role model, in teaching life skills. These are necessary for changing hygienic behaviour of your players in a positive way.

The Basic WASH Manual will guide you through these critical topics:

• Introduction to WASH
• The relation between WASH and disease
• Three crucial behaviours
• Why Life Skills?
• Why should a WorldCoach care about WASH?
• How can a WorldCoach contribute to WASH by Life Skills?
• What role can a WorldCoach play in Life Skills training?
• Roadmap (realize, analyze, act)
• Tools: fun activities and games you can play to address basic WASH issues

Download the Basic WASH Manual

Safe Water

Safe water is essential to life. Safe water is water from a known clean source or water having received prior efficacious treatment. Unclean water often contains germs that spread diarrhea. Drinking or cooking with contaminated water causes common diseases that become risks to the health of your community, your players and yourself.

For many people obtaining safe drinking water is a struggle. They do not have access to safe drinking water supplies and have to rely on open surface water or on wells that are not properly constructed. In case of a piped water supply, the water may not be safe. As a result they run the risk of getting diseases and infections which are caused by using water that is contaminated.

Water becomes dirty in many ways. It may contain faeces and urine, soap from washing or chemicals from industry. Diseases are spread when the faeces of a sick person contaminate water. The faeces from a person who has a stomach sickness contain germs, which can make other people sick. When the faeces contaminate the water, everyone who drinks the water may get sick. Typhoid, cholera, diarrhoea, amoebic dysentery, polio and hepatitis are diseases that may be transmitted this way.

The Safe Water manual will guide you through these critical topics:

• What is good behaviour?
• Water disinfection
• Safe storage
• How can you as a WorldCoach contribute?
• The effects of your contribution
• Roadmap (realize, analyze, act)
• Tools: fun activities and games you can play to address safe water issues

Hand Washing

During our daily activities we pick up invisible intruders on our hands. Therefore, to protect us from infection transmission, it’s necessary to wash our hands. Worldwide around 1.500.000 to 1.700.000 lives could be saved by hand-washing with soap after contact with human excreta.

Although people all over the world wash their hands with water, water alone is significantly less effective than washing hands with soap in terms of removing germs. Hand-washing with soap is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of infection and is the single most effective way of reducing diarrhoeal illnesses: washing hands correctly at the critical times can reduce diarrhea by nearly 40%. Hand-washing can also help to reduce respiratory problems by 25%, such as skin and eye diseases or worm infestations.

The Hand Washing manual will guide you through these critical topics:

• When to wash hands
• How to wash hands correctly
• What can you as WorldCoach do for hand washing?
• Roadmap (realize, analyze, act)
• Tools: fun activities and games you can play to address hand washing issues

Safe Sanitation

Safe sanitation refers in general to facilities for safe disposal of human faeces and urine. Unsafe sanitation is a major cause of disease. Therefore using latrines properly and stopping open defecation are of high importance for improving the health of your players and yourself.

The Safe Sanitation manual will guide you through these critical topics:

• Stop open defecation
• Good use of latrines
• What can you as WorldCoach do for safe sanitation?
• Roadmap (realize, analyze, act)
• Tools: fun activities and games you can play to address sanitation issue

Acknowledgements

KNVB

• The material on this page is from Football for Water, brought to you by KNVB.