The Power of Soccer

As promised, I’ve taken a break from watching the exciting World Cup matches to see what’s going on in the world of social marketing. There are a lot of interesting campaigns being launched, as well as some controversial protests that have been getting a significant amount of press attention. For now, however, I’ll focus on some of the positive events that have been taking place.

Grassroots Soccer is an organization established by former professional football players, that provides HIV information and education techniques to African soccer stars, coaches teachers and role models around the continent. The program provides these community leaders with the curriculums and skills necessary to pass along the information to youth. The organization has been a huge success and has received global recognition for its efforts against the HIV epidemic.

For the 2010 World Cup GRS has teamed up with Castrol to roll out the Castrol Skillz Holiday Programme that 4,500 children across South Africa will participate in. The initiative is a four week long holiday camp that provides HIV education, life skills and of course, intensive soccer training. It is particularly interesting to see how the program uses analogies and correlations between HIV transmission and the game of football to help educate the children about the disease and how to make decisions in life regarding their own protection and health.

For more information about this amazing organization, as well as the Castrol Skillz Holiday Program, check out www.grassrootsoccer.org/

Now back to the games!

The Cup, Condoms and Conversations

Being an avid football fan (or soccer as some prefer), my mind has recently been filled with thoughts of the upcoming World Cup taking place in beautiful South Africa this summer. The tournament, which is set to kick off on June 11^th, will draw thousands of visitors from around the world, spurring what the government hopes will be an evident economic boost. South Africa currently has about 4 million people unemployed, and hosting the games (which has cost the country about $4.6 billion in preparation) should lower that number significantly. Unfortunately, a high unemployment rate is not the only disturbing statistic. With an adult infection rate of about 18%, the nation is home to the greatest number of people living with HIV. The epidemic is fueled by unprotected sex, rampant prostitution and mother to child transmissions, all factors that President Zuma and the government seem to be concerned with fighting. Although HIV rates have stabilized in the last few years South Africa still has a long way to go in the battle against the disease.

So what does the World Cup have to do with the epidemic? Health care experts are concerned that the influx of tourists (a predicted 450,000 people) as well as prostitutes (an estimated 40,000) into the nation could cause a spike in HIV transmission. The South African government has responded to this concern by requesting one billion condoms from donor nations. Already the UK has donated and shipped 42 million condoms.In addition to the call for condoms, FIFA and its local organizing committee have urged HIV/AIDS organizations to push awareness messages before and during games.

With millions of people attending and billions of people around the world tuning in to watch the games, the World Cup lends itself as the perfect platform to raise awareness for South Africa’s severe HIV/AIDS crisis. There are several efforts and interesting programs that I would urge you to take a look at including Football for Hope and Football for an HIV-free Generation.

It will be interesting to see how organizations leverage the high viewership during the World Cup. Updates to come post World Cup.