The Youth Development through Football (YDF) project has published two new manuals, the ‘YDF Manual for HIV Prevention’ and the ‘YDF Manual for Environmental Awareness.’ These manuals demonstrate the potential of football to address social issues amongst youth includingthe important issues of HIV prevention and environmental awareness.
Both manuals were written by Norman Brook in collaboration with experts in each of the fields and a group of YDF trained football coaches.
Commenting on the environmental awareness manual, the GIZ YDF programme stated “What appears at first glance to be an extremely difficult notion is presented in the manual in a manner that is both understandable and extremely vivid. The purpose of the manual is to advise and assist coaches – even those with limited experience in environmental issues.
The first step is to learn about the responsibilities of a coach and how important a coach’s role can be in raising awareness about social issues such as environmental protection. Through the manuals, coaches are equipped with an understanding of the issues and the challenges our communities face today. Moreover, the importance of the three elements of air, water and soil and the concept of biodiversity are introduced and highlighted. The topic of their importance to our everyday life is raised, and practical ideas given on how to use the popularity and potential of football for environmental awareness.
There are many ways in which we can all contribute to protecting our environment through both individual activities and actions taken by the football team and community. In light of this, the YDF Manual for Environmental Awareness introduces strategies to address environmental threats and provides encouragement to take action.”
The YDF Manual for HIV Protection was launched at the Volkswagen’s headquarters in Uitenhague, Eastern Cape, two weeks ago. The official launch of the YDF Manual for Environmental Awareness is scheduled to take place during a side event of COP 17 on 5 December 2011. COP (Conference of the Parties) is an annual summit where the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty informally known as the Earth Summit, assess the progress made in dealing with climate change. The 17th edition of the summit is to be hosted in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
The GIZ Youth Development through Football (YDF) is a supranational programme implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in partnership with the Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) in 10 African countries.
Norman Brook was commissioned to develop manuals and workshops for the YDF short modules using football as a means of promoting HIV Prevention and increasing Environmental Awareness.
Climate Change and the HIV & AIDS pandemic are two of the biggest challenges facing Sub Saharan Africa. Football provides a means of engaging young people and opens up the opportunity to increase their knowledge of HIV and AIDS and of the Environment.
Both manuals can now be downloaded free from the http://www.za-ydf.org/pages/home/ See under tools we offer.