This month ISF hosted the Coaches Across Continent training programme. CAC, who has been working with us since 2013, uses sport for social impact education and focuses on issues, such as: female empowerment, gender equality, conflict resolution, health and wellness, problem-solving skills and child rights protection.

The CAC training programme involved approximately 100 coaches from ISF and our partner organizations and schools, and used coaching and football for social change, building up the capacity of our coaches for Community Impact (CICs).

The programme was delivered in two weeks, from 8th to 19th of August. The second week was particularly challenging, as one of the CAC coaches fell ill mid-way through week 1! Nevertheless, ISF coaches didn’t let this stop them. We were very proud that they were able tostep up and successfully help to run the activities planned with the CAC team in Phnom Penh. What’s more, three ISF coaches even went down to Sihanoukville to run a CAC programme unsupervised! CAC have never done that before, so we were delighted that they felt that the ISF coaches were up to the challenge of leading the CAC programme there.

CAC organised a great variety of educational games covering, for example, gender equity. A Q&A session was conducted and girls, in particular, were encouraged to speak freely about women’s rights and protection, and sexual and domestic abuse. Playing games with hidden social messages, the participants were encouraged to find creative solutions to local social issues together.

The respectful, participatory environment that CAC creates encourages opinions to be shared and valued, fostering understanding of local issues through games and positive collaboration. The trainees not only improve their own understanding of local issues, they also learn how to develop and lead locally-relevant sessions to pass on to the players they coach and the wider community.

Saravung, one of ISF coaches, shared his experience at the CAC training with us:

“I had such a great time! We played football and learnt so much about sports and social issues in Cambodia and around the world. Furthermore, we learnt how to use sport and games for social impact and I look forward to passing these lessons on to the teams I coach!”

The CAC two-week training was a great success and ISF is proud to have hosted this programme for the fourth year in a row!