Grassroot Soccer
Games in Cape Town

YOUTH worldwide have graduated from our HIV prevention programs.

She’s now using her passion to be a role model for younger girls. Grassroot Soccer is an adolescent health organization that leverages the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize at-risk youth in developing countries to overcome their greatest health challenges, live healthier, more productive lives, and be agents for change in their communities. The City Football Foundation has been pivotal in the development and success of GRS’s all-girls soccer team in South Africa, RV United. RV United was the first soccer team for girls in Khayelitsha, South Africa’s second largest township. Support from the City Football Foundation has allowed the soccer team not only to grow and replicate, but also provides team members with financial literacy and sexual and reproductive health education. Comic Relief drives positive change through the power of entertainment. Through initiatives like Red Nose Day and Sport Relief, Comic Relief has raised millions of pounds to tackle tackle the root causes of poverty and social injustice. Comic Relief has supported Grassroot Soccer since 2010 to develop gender-focused curricula, provide professional development to young people, and link youth to youth-friendly health services. Since 2010, the Elton John AIDS Foundation has invested in Grassroot Soccer’s work through the development of an interactive HIV prevention and anti-stigma campaign for schools and support services for at-risk youth in Ukraine, and the roll out of a holistic programming model in Zambia, linking vulnerable youth from our programs to comprehensive testing, counselling and treatment services. The Elton John AIDS Foundation currently supports the implementation of HIV counselling and testing tournaments and holiday camps in Zimbabwe. The ExxonMobil Foundation supports programs that target global health issues, specifically malaria, because it believes that good health is a springboard to opportunity, achievement and development. Grassroot Soccer and ExxonMobil have been working together since 2011 to deliver malaria and HIV prevention education to youth in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Equatorial Guinea. ExxonMobil additionally supports GRS all-girls sexual and reproductive health programming in South Africa, and has helped GRS form a partnership with Special Olympics to design and implement a malaria and HIV prevention program for youth with intellectual disabilities in Nigeria. The Ford Foundation seeks to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Grassroot Soccer is a proud recipient of funding from the Ford Foundation since 2013, enabling GRS to deliver comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education to youth in South Africa and disseminate program findings and best practices. Johnson & Johnson's goal is to create a healthier world, one community at a time, through strategic partnerships. Through support from Johnson & Johnson, Grassroot Soccer provides comprehensive HIV education, testing, treatment and retention in care for adolescent girls and young women in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Volunteers deliver tailored Peace Corps SKILLZ programs to some of the world’s most in-need communities, where soccer is often a strong community unifier and youth desperately need access to accurate health information and caring adults. Since the launch of the partnership in 2011, more than 2,000 Peace Corps Volunteers in 46 countries have worked in tandem with Grassroot Soccer and local community member GRS Coaches who deliver key life skills information to youth. US Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the U.S. Government initiative to help save the lives of those suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world, the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease internationally. Since 2008, support from PEPFAR through USAID has been vital to Grassroot Soccer’s development and expansion in southern Africa and has enabled GRS to design, implement and monitor high impact combination prevention initiatives for adolescents. The partnership has also entered into multiple public-private partnerships, delivering joint projects with private partners including Nike, Comic Relief, The MAC AIDS Fund, Barclays, and Anglo American. To achieve this, the Foundation supports charity partners that work in four key areas of a child’s development: Health, Water and Sanitation, Education and Livelihoods.