The World
Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has successfully launched a new
Baseball5 project in Kenya in collaboration with the African Higher Education
in Emergencies Network (AHEEN) and Olympic Solidarity.
Baseball5, the
WBSC’s accessible and urban discipline, has been introduced into the Kakuma
Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei integrated settlement following the successful
running of similar training programmes in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan.
“The WBSC is
committed to growing our sport worldwide and to helping those less fortunate
while doing so," WBSC President Fraccari said. "By launching this
project alongside AHEEN and thanks to the support of Olympic Solidarity, we are
expanding the reach of Baseball5 and offering displaced youngsters the
opportunity to play organised sport on a regular basis”.
“We have seen
great success through our project in the Azraq Refugee Camp and are confident
that the introduction of Baseball5 to the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei
integrated settlement will have a similar effect. I look forward to visiting
Kenya in the future to see the success.”
The WBSC has
partnered with AHEEN, who are focused on displaced youth to succeed in secondary education as a pathway to higher
education and employment, to run the initiative, which
kicked off on 1 August 2024.
Baseball5’s
introduction will not only encourage healthy living and give displaced youth
the opportunity to engage with sport, but also help drive social cohesion and
build on the legacy of other similar projects run by the WBSC.
AHEEN’s Athletics & Education program focuses on building social-emotional and life skills through sports combined with regular
education support. In addition to its physical benefit,
teamwork, coordination and competition within Baseball5 will support youth education
in this respect.
Run in
conjunction with Olympic Solidarity, Under-18s in the camps will be able to
take part in regular Baseball5 activities, which will be run by Head Coach
Denis Mitei, who was one of four coaches able to take part in a coaching clinic
in Nairobi and has experience dealing with displaced young people during his teaching
career.
To guarantee high standards of delivery, the WBSC and AHEEN built up a “Project Delivery Team” formed by two AHEEN Members - Youth Education & Sports (YES), a refugee-led organisation, and Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK), the Kenya National Federations of Baseball and Softball, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, UNHCR Sub-office Kakuma and the schools involved.
The cooperation between these stakeholders will ensure not only high technical standards, but also compliance with child safeguarding and refugee protection protocols, a solid nutrition plan for the participants, a system to monitoring and reporting targeted outcomes and systematic coordination with teachers and parents through YES.
The project is
designed to encourage its participants to progress to Higher Education, and for
the possible participation of a team from Kenya to compete in future Youth
Olympic Games (YOG).
