SEED Academy : using basketball to develop new talent and tomorrow’s leaders

A project managed by the SEED Project

Founded in 1998 by Amadou Gallo Fall (President of the Basketball Africa League and Vice- President of Development for NBA Africa), the SEED Project is the first basketball student-athlete academy in Africa. The academy currently has more than 2,000 student-athletes and 350 experienced coaches.

Located in the Thiès region of Senegal at CNEPS, a government sports training and youth development facility, the SEED Academy is the flagship programme of the SEED Project, an NGO that centres its activities on the education and professional development of girls and boys.

Context

Senegal has one of the youngest populations in West Africa. In 2000, 57% of the population was under the age of 20, while around 64% of school-age children had access to education (source: UNESCO). Senegal’s young people are a real asset – and a challenge – for the country’s development.

Given its success and status as an inspirational model, the SEED Project is one of the key contributions to the development of this youth through sport. With basketball as the keystone, the SEED Project’s different programmes are designed to promote young people’s access to quality education and high-performance sports training.
Launched in 2002, the Academy currently has more than 2,000 student-athletes from various African countries.

Goals

Discover sporting talent and future African leaders through a high-level athletic and academic programme
Mobilise young people through basketball, education and civic values
Promote the empowerment and social inclusion of girls
Develop young people’s autonomy, perseverance, discipline, teamwork and leadership
Establish partnerships for sporting and university exchanges

Activities

Construction of training grounds, sports halls and other associated sites (auditorium, computer room, cafeteria, dormitories for student-athletes and staff accommodation)
SEED Academy Girls programme: 20 girls per year (from middle school to high school)
SEED Academy programme: 20 boys per year (from middle school to high school)
NBA Academy Africa programme: elite athletic and academic centre for young university-level Africans (run in partnership with the NBA)
Other complementary programmes: SEED Rise (an after-school youth development programme), SEED Gives (social actions within communities), raising awareness among young people of gender equality, etc.
Partnerships with other NGOs to implement joint projects: SEED Academy Girls and the Babac’ards Foundation in Senegal; SEED Rise and the NGO Ascend Together in the Gambia

Watch the SEED Academy in action

Impacts

Since 2006, around $7 million in scholarship funding has been awarded to SEED Academy student-athletes
92% of students have either graduated from university or secured a job after leaving the programme
94% pass rate for the high school exit exam (compared to the national average of 35%)
83% pass rate for the middle school exit exam (compared to the national average of 49%)
Almost 100 students have enrolled in university or secured a job in Senegal, the United States or Europe
Almost 60 graduates playing US college basketball, with 6 playing in NBA affiliated leagues
Almost 35 graduates playing professional basketball in 16 other African countries
More than 350 coaches from West Africa trained in the SEED Academy programme

Funding

Programme supported through donations, sponsorship and/or hosting a student, mentoring, volunteer work
Project supported by the NBA, Nike, USAID, ContourGlobal and UNICEF

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