In brief

Shamas Rugby Foundation uses the sport of rugby to develop children and youth on and off the rugby pitch focussing on life skills and character building, mentorship and counselling, high school and university scholarships, employability training and job placements, and community welfare programmes. The organisation has the reputation of building well-rounded people who have a plan for their future.

Problem to be tackled

Shamas Rugby Foundation works exclusively with children and youth living in urban slums and rural areas, where development has been stagnant for a long time. The community members Shamas Rugby Foundation works with face different challenges that limit their endeavours to achieve quality life and that have been very detrimental to their development, leading to poor decision-making skills and the arising of mental health issues. Some of the problems they tackle are:

• lack of self-esteem,
• lack of self-awareness,
• lack of assertiveness,
• peer pressure resulting in drug and substance abuse, early pregnancies, criminal activities, suicide, lack of resilience,
• poor interpersonal relationship skills or
• domestic violence and physical and sexual abuse.

Local partner

Project locations are Nairobi County (Kibera, Mathare, Kangemi, Makadara and Korogocho) as well as Kiambu County (Uthiru, Kinoo, Ruiru, Juja, and Kamiti constituencies).

The project activities include Teaching Life Skills during rugby trainings, Life Skills Education during summer camps and Counselling and Mentorship.

Shamas Rugby Foundation‘s mission is to use rugby to enhance the UN Sustainable Development Goals 1 = end poverty in all its forms everywhere, 3 = ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, 4 = ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, 5 = achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and 10 = reduce inequality within and among countries and to promote the holistic development of boys and girls living in urban slums and rural areas in Kenya and beyond.