LYSD : sport for youth empowerment

Context

Around 41% of the population in Togo is under the age of 15, a trend that is observed in many African countries. Ensuring access to quality education, employment and safe spaces for personal development is a major challenge.
It was against this background that LYSD launched the Milédou project in 2013. The project’s goal is to foster the personal development and social and professional integration of young people based on the values of respect, tolerance, harmonious coexistence and gender equality.
The organisation relies on a network of experienced coaches to hold weekly training sessions and various community events.

LYSD now wants to go even further by combining basketball, cultural activities (contemporary dance and theatre) and workshops on digital content creation in order to foster the personal development of over 800 girls and boys in nine remote locations in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.

Goals

• Foster the personal development of young people aged 8 to 20 in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire
• Promote gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women
• Strengthen the social cohesion of local communities by promoting the values of harmonious coexistence and tolerance
• Raise young people’s awareness of the issues of sustainable development and gender equality and develop their leadership skills
• Implement the LYSD methodology and train 25 local coaches

Activities

• Holding twice-weekly basketball training and weekly dance sessions
• Organising sports leagues to facilitate meetings between young people from different areas
• Developing a shared culture through events and content creation
• Conducting training sessions for local coaches led by experts (in sport, education, psychology, digital skills, etc.)

Watch the Milédou project in action

Impacts

• Over 800 beneficiaries of the programme, aged 8 to 20 
• One-third of the programme’s beneficiaries are girls
• At the heart of the project’s success are 25 local coaches, including 6 women, who have been trained in LYSD’s methodology
• Sharing cultures and developing the cultural and creative industries

Funding

• Project cost: approximately €150,000
• Project supported in 2019 by the Agence Française de Développement and the European Guild

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Photo credits : @LYSD