Building a sports and educational centre in Tambacounda with Mamadou Sakho

An initiative by Mamadou Sakho

Mamadou Sakho is a professional footballer who has played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs (PSG, Liverpool FC and Crystal Palace FC) and has earned around 30 international caps for France. Alongside his football career, he has been devoting his energies to several humanitarian projects for children in Africa, France and England since 2012.

Managed by the association AMSAK Donation, the Mamadou Sakho sports and educational centre houses an orphanage, an educational centre, an apprenticeship centre for learning traditional trades, and a sports centre for training young footballers in the Tambacounda region.

Context

In Senegal, 5% of children under the age of 18 are fatherless and 16% are living without their biological parents (UNICEF statistics, 2013). A high proportion (38%) of the country’s children aged 7 to 18 are not enrolled in school, a rate that rises to 46% in rural areas. The Tambacounda region, which is in a rural part of eastern Senegal, is the Sakho family’s homeland.

The association AMSAK Donation aims to contribute to youth education and empowerment in Tambacounda by building the Mamadou Sakho sports and educational centre. After establishing several local contacts, the project was effectively started in 2018, thanks to the Senegalese Government’s donation of a three-hectare plot of land near Tambacounda, close to the route of a future motorway.

Goals

Support and provide schooling for the region’s young people, with a particular focus on orphaned children
Ensure young people’s inclusion in the local job market by providing training in skilled trades
Nurture the sporting talent of tomorrow via an elite sports facility

Activities

Building an educational and sports complex in the Tambacounda region
Providing schooling for orphans aged 6 to 13 in the region
Training 14–18-year-olds in the country’s traditional trades (farming, carpentry, weaving, sculpture, ironwork, etc.)
Educating and developing promising young footballers

Impacts

Social integration of street children and children from deprived families
Schooling for orphans and for children from disadvantaged communities in the region
Job creation both within and outside the centre’s activities
Recruitment of qualified coaches and teachers

Funding

Project cost: around €2.2 million, of which 10% is already committed in equity for the following three stages:
- Stage 1: construction of the educational centre with three main buildings (around €500,000)
- Stage 2: construction of an apprenticeship centre for traditional trades (around €400,000)
- Stage 3: construction of the sports centre for educating and training young footballers (around €750,000)
- Equipment and working capital needs: €550,000

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