Jchoice.Org

GRS’ programs are currently rolled out across South Africa. Close collaboration plays a major role and partnerships have been forged with the local government and like-minded organizations throughout the country. Our focus has, where possible, been on the most under-resourced areas. Thus our largest program is in Zwide township in Port Elizabeth, where our interventions have evolved into a street soccer league, in-school and after-school programs and the highly successful Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) events where the attraction of soccer and the positive atmosphere around a soccer tournament helps to break down the stigma surrounding going for an HIV test.

Numerous scientific evaluations have documented the GRS model’s effectiveness in significantly reducing sexual risk behavior, decreasing stigma, and improving students’ knowledge, attitudes, communication, and decision-making skills related to HIV. Surveying 304 students in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Stanford University’s Children’s Health Council concluded that: “The GRS Program is a culturally appropriate, internationally suitable, creative, and effective way to educate at-risk youth about HIV/AIDS and its prevention.” Similarly encouraging results have emerged from formal evaluations in Zambia, South Africa, Sudan, Liberia, Botswana, Ethiopia, and the Dominican Republic. These studies have been published in academic journals, referenced by working groups, and presented at prestigious international conferences.

• promote improved health-seeking behavior among youth aged 12-18;
• build the capacity of local implementing partners to deliver, monitor, and sustain HIV/AIDS prevention programming;
• increase demand for and uptake of HIV-related services (e.g. VCT and Anti-Retroviral Therapy).

Since incorporation, GRS’ signature innovation has been using soccer language, skills, and players to fuel a youth-led behavior change movement. Soccer’s universal popularity makes it an ideal way of uniting young people in a common cause. Says former UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot of GRS’ innovation:

“Soccer offers an exciting platform for intensifying HIV prevention efforts across Africa, helping promote self esteem, and supporting the development of protective communication and life skills. Combining soccer with community-based programs and intensive media outreach will give a welcome boost to ongoing HIV prevention work on the continent and will be particularly powerful in the months building up to the first World Cup to be hosted in Africa.”

GRS prides itself on using rigorous research and evaluation to drive its interventions. To ensure programs remain progressive, GRS has created a research advisory council with leading experts including Infectious Disease Professor Thomas Coates and prominent author Helen Epstein. Whereas many prevention programs are driven by donors' ideologies, ”Grassroot Soccer reaches large numbers of young people with HIV education and bases its programs on the best available evidence,” writes Epstein, who visited GRS Zambia programs in 2007.

GRS' collaboration with implementing partners to amplify impact is rare among our peers. Rather than competing for funding, we share our model with like-minded organizations demonstrating capacity to sustain programs. Observes Coates, ”Grassroot Soccer’s collaborative spirit, commitment to outcome-driven programs, and multi-level approach make it an organization at the cutting-edge of HIV prevention."