Uganda is the first country using athletics as a tool for development. The German Development Cooperation and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) cooperate closely with World Athletics and the German Athletics Federation (DLV) as well as with many local stakeholders. In Uganda the Training and Resource Network (TRN) was established from the beginning in 2018 and gather a wide range of stakeholders together such as various Ugandan ministries, the Ugandan Paralympic Committee (UPC), the Ugandan Athletics Federation (UAF), international organizations (UNICEF) and different local NGOs. The political partner of the project is the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sport (MoES).

The main objective of this project is to develop and implement the method “Athletic for Development” (A4D) in close collaboration with the TRN members. The TRN monitors, advises and lobby for A4D and support the implementation of the project. World Athletics has had experience and expertise in the use of sports and athletics in Uganda since 2009, particularly in school sports. As a starting point, the "Kids' Athletics" approach used worldwide was identified, which is now being expanded to include development policy components in cooperation with German development cooperation.

The “play and learn” teaching method of athletics with its focus on running, jumping and throwing will be used to foster development objectives in Uganda. The aim is to develop local resources and structures, integrate marginalized and vulnerable groups and the education of master trainers. The target group consists of marginalized young people up to 30 years of age (e.g. inclusion of people with disabilities, integration of host communities and refugees, empowerment of girls and young women). It is further aimed to empower youth in their personal development such as to strengthen the social cohesion and dialogue in and between communities as well as to use sport as a tool for improved health, education and inclusion in the school and extracurricular context. The long-time vision is to have A4D integrated into the Ugandan training and teaching curricula.

During the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 Viva con Agua and GIZ partnered up to develop the hygiene manual “Become the next Washampion”. This comic book filled with activities and information on hygiene measures aims at educating young people in a fun way on how to behave within a sports team and in their respective communities during pandemic times. More than 5000 children and teenagers have been reached through the manual already and both partner organizations are busy planning the distribution of a lot more comic books throughout all districts in Uganda.

The sport-pedagogical qualification of coaches and teachers is the main component of our advanced education and training programmes in the field of S4D. Below you will find workshop documents from Uganda which give you some insight into workshop contents and discussions.

We invite you to have a look at the following teaching and learning material, which was created by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and our partner organizations in Uganda. You will find a more detailed description about the materials in our collection S4D Tools for your Practice/Teaching and Learning Materials.