Impact 2024 International: 80,000 beneficiaries thanks to cooperation between AFD and Paris 2024

“Impact 2024 International”: A programme strengthening the social role of sport in Africa

Since its launch in 2021, and through its four editions, the “Impact 2024 International” call for proposals has supported 45 projects implemented in 19 African countries (South Africa, Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Morocco, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia) with co-financing of 1.4 million euros, an average of 29,300 euros per project. A total of 77,469 people have benefited from these projects, 41 per cent of them being women and girls. The projects all go under the name “Impact 2024”, recognising their contribution to the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The projects aim, in the main, to improve health (SDG 3 – Good health and Well-being), promote equality between men and women (SDG 5 – Gender equality) and provide education (SDG 4 – Quality education). They are characterised by the variety of sports practised, particularly team sports (football, volleyball and basketball) but also sailing, surfing, skateboarding, boxing, cycling and circus arts.

The call for proposals selection committee met in June 2023 to decide upon the winning projects of the fourth and latest edition of this call for proposals. Thirteen projects implemented in 10 countries have thus been selected, for a total investment of 365,000 euros. The latest session was the opportunity to include an even more diverse range of sports, with surfing, BMX and circus arts. It has also provided the opportunity to place sport at the service of areas less targeted to date, such as professional integration, the fight against rural depopulation and environmental protection.

List of winning projects:

• REPAC-SJ-BENIN*, Ensemble c’est mieux [Better together], Benin
• 237BMX*, BMX FREESTYLE 237, Cameroon
• Vision Sans Frontière (VSF)*, Training and socio-professional integration of 60 vulnerable girls and women from the beneficiary communities, through a focus on women’s sport in two communities/communes in Labé Prefecture, Guinea
• Angaza Sports and Development Centre*, Environmental preservation through sport, Kenya
• Association delta evasion des sports de montagne*, Empowerment of Girls, Morocco
• The Uganda Skateboard Union*, Building a resilient skateboarding scene in Gulu & Northern Uganda, Uganda
• Fellows In Development*, Improving health and well-being for poor children with development delay and Cerebral palsy in the community secondary to the complications of severe birth asphyxia through adaptive sports, Rwanda
• ASC Malika Surf*, Surfkids Shredding Senegal: Sport at the service of education, Senegal
• PULSE AFRICA SPORT FOR EDUCATION*, POTENTI’ELLES + PRO, Senegal
• LADIESTURN*, Jigeen Foot, Senegal
• Ping Sans Frontières*, Ping and Education in Senegal, Senegal
• Cercle d’Appui pour le Développement des Enfants Vulnérables (CADEV)*, Midzo-Midzo project, Togo
• Circus Zambia*, Jump Fly and Land Safely, Zambia

Tony Estanguet, Paris 2024 President: “With the ‘Impact 2024 International’ programme, Paris 2024 has sought to reflect on the rest of the world its ambition to change lives through sport. With more than 77,000 beneficiary projects linked to health, education, social integration, the environment and sport, and thanks to the work of the NGOs supported by the French Development Agency and Paris 2024, we hope to see the role of sport in society being increasingly recognised over the next few years.”

Rémy Rioux, French Development Agency [AFD] Chief Executive Officer: “I am delighted with the results of the four ‘Impact 2024 International’ calls for proposals. The initiatives supported by the AFD and Paris 2024 are a perfect illustration of the way in which the international sports movement can be a catalyst for investment in sustainable development in Africa. As an extension of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, we are continuing this work, alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Finance in Common coalition (FICS), to bring together those involved in sport and in developmental finance, to include sport in development and to include development in sport, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Photo credit: ASC Malika Surf

*Subject to the validation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (AML-FT) due diligence.

** Subject to the validation of the AML/CFT due diligence and the fulfillment of the previous conditions .