Shooting Touch : providing access to sport in rural areas

A project set up by Shooting Touch

Founded in 2007, Shooting Touch is a non-profit organisation that is active in the United States and Rwanda. It uses basketball to improve the living conditions of rural communities and, in particular, the health and well-being of young people and women.

Since 2012, Shooting Touch has been carrying out its activities in close contact with rural communities in Rwanda. By promoting basketball, its educational values and its health benefits, the programme uses sport as a vehicle for development and empowerment. The association also offers various health services (consultations, follow-up, provision of screening kits and access to clean drinking water).

Context

According to a World Bank report, the average annual growth rate in Rwanda was 7.5% over the period 2000–2018, largely due to the improvement in economic governance that is at the heart of President Paul Kagame’s Vision 2020 strategy. Poverty has also been reduced considerably, although inequalities remain. At the start of the 2010s, around a quarter of rural households were living in extreme poverty and had poor access to health and education services.
Shooting Touch has devised several development through sport initiatives, which take the form of training and support programmes aimed specifically at young people and women in rural areas.

Goals

Offer people in rural areas the opportunity to lead active, happy and healthy lives through sport
Promote equal access to physical activity for all
Provide communities with health and education services
Foster the empowerment and community engagement of women

Activities

Constructing basketball courts in rural areas and donating sports kits
Organising tournaments that bring together young people aged 7 to 21 from six rural communities in the eastern and northern provinces of Rwanda
Supporting women and girls victims of war, gender-based violence or rape
Holding free consultation days and providing screening kits and access to clean drinking water
Conducting awareness-raising campaigns about women’s health and rights
Providing training on personal development and organising sessions for sharing experiences

Learn more about the work carried out by Shooting Touch in Rwanda

Impacts

935 young people (including 447 girls) and 750 adult women benefited from the Sport for All programme in 2019
Since 2015, five young people have been selected for the national under-16 team
One young person shortlisted for the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp, which brings together the finest talents in Africa
More than 40 young people received scholarships as part of the Junior NBA programme
19 coaches have been recruited by Shooting Touch, including 9 women
Since 2016, more than 14,000 people have enjoyed free access to health services (consultations, screening)
97% of women and 93% of girls now feel more comfortable in saying “No” to unwanted sexual activity
1,870 families have benefited from access to clean drinking water
64,000 people were informed about the benefits of health insurance (campaigns carried out in collaboration with health workers)

Funding

Annual budget of around $550,000 for programmes carried out in Boston (USA) and Rwanda in 2018
Project supported by some 30 donor organisations, including the International Olympic Committee and the NBA
Project won the Beyond Sport Foundation’s Sport for Health and Well-being Award (out of more than 400 entries in total, across all categories) in September 2018

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