- Health & Wellbeing ·
Healthy Living: Bring Sports to Schools in Africa
Putting physical education into schools and providing access to sports to over 200 children in South Africa
- South Africa
- hello@actionchange.org
Project Summary
Project Challenge
Project Solution
Impact
Reports
Project Summary
Being Active is very important. Sport for children can accelerate a child’s personal growth. Sport can help with learning, mental and physical health while uniting communities. We see this project as an essential part of childhood development and a gift to this project will help fund our school project to continue to provide sports education to all.
Sports education and being active is a vital part of a child’s development and success in schooling. However, for many children in South Africa, there is a lack of sports equipment, proper and safe infrastructure to practise in and often no teachers educated or dedicated to providing extra-curricular or sports education. Our goal is to provide our local township school in South Africa with the necessary resources and improved infrastructure to provide activities for the children.
Project Challenge
With most children in South Africa lacking access to education in general, it becomes hard for teachers and families to prioritise safe and educated sports activities, as they are barely receiving school books and safe learning facilities. Due to the lack of funding most rural or informal schools don’t have sports equipment, proper infrastructure or playgrounds. Without safe outdoor activities at a young age, children are at risk of poor health as well as putting themselves in danger when they try to play in unsafe, unsupervised areas.
Project Solution
By funding sports equipment, resources and educating the children on the importance of sports and recreation in their development, we hope to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the children in our local school. We also hope to improve their attitudes towards sport and extra-curricular activities so that they understand the importance whilst being safe. By providing a safe place for the children to play, we hope to keep these children safe from gangs, external abuse as they don’t have to go to the streets.
Impact
The long-term impact of this project will be to boost the overall health and wellbeing of the children in the school as well as hopefully motivating children to take it further, as a career in sports education or even inspire young professional athletes. By providing the necessary resources, equipment and infrastructure we hope to give these children a sense of pride in their schooling and motivate them as they are not missing out on a key part of their education.
Reports
Project Report | Mar 12, 2026
Game on! Meet our new secret weapon…
By Tyrone Bennett | CEO of Action Change
Hey everyone, Ty here!
The energy in our schools is absolutely electric right now! After we officially launched rugby into our school network at the end of 2025, the kids have gone total rugby-mad. It’s been incredible to see.
What your support has already done Thanks to your donations over the last few months, we’ve been able to get the basics sorted. We’ve purchased balls, tags, bibs, and all the essential equipment to get the children out on the field. But as any athlete knows, gear is only half the battle as you need the right leader to pull it all together.
The big news: We found him! I am beyond stoked to announce that we’ve secured an absolute legend to lead our program. Meet Aya. He’s an awesome player turned coach with an incredible track record for mentoring young people. Honestly, we can’t believe he said yes!
Aya is starting with us right after Easter, and we know he’s the key to transforming this project. He’s going to get these kids prepared and ready to compete against other schools for the very first time. This isn’t just about sport; we know from experience that a strong team increases school attendance, keeps kids engaged, and really transforms the spirit of a struggling township.
The Goal: No more stop-and-start! To keep Aya on the field, we need to raise £65 a week to cover his salary. It’s a small investment for a massive impact, but the truth is we don’t want to be playing “hand-to-mouth” with his role. We want to ensure he is there for the kids every single week without the fear of funding drying up.
Imagine the confidence these kids will have by December if they have a consistent, amazing coach like Aya in their corner every week. Can we do it? I know we can!
Stay awesome,
Being Active is very important. Sport for children can accelerate a child’s personal growth. Sport can help with learning, mental and physical health while uniting communities. We see this project as an essential part of childhood development and a gift to this project will help fund our school project to continue to provide sports education to all.
Sports education and being active is a vital part of a child’s development and success in schooling. However, for many children in South Africa, there is a lack of sports equipment, proper and safe infrastructure to practise in and often no teachers educated or dedicated to providing extra-curricular or sports education. Our goal is to provide our local township school in South Africa with the necessary resources and improved infrastructure to provide activities for the children.
With most children in South Africa lacking access to education in general, it becomes hard for teachers and families to prioritise safe and educated sports activities, as they are barely receiving school books and safe learning facilities. Due to the lack of funding most rural or informal schools don’t have sports equipment, proper infrastructure or playgrounds. Without safe outdoor activities at a young age, children are at risk of poor health as well as putting themselves in danger when they try to play in unsafe, unsupervised areas.
By funding sports equipment, resources and educating the children on the importance of sports and recreation in their development, we hope to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the children in our local school. We also hope to improve their attitudes towards sport and extra-curricular activities so that they understand the importance whilst being safe. By providing a safe place for the children to play, we hope to keep these children safe from gangs, external abuse as they don’t have to go to the streets.
The long-term impact of this project will be to boost the overall health and wellbeing of the children in the school as well as hopefully motivating children to take it further, as a career in sports education or even inspire young professional athletes. By providing the necessary resources, equipment and infrastructure we hope to give these children a sense of pride in their schooling and motivate them as they are not missing out on a key part of their education.
Project Report | Mar 12, 2026
Game on! Meet our new secret weapon…
By Tyrone Bennett | CEO of Action Change
Hey everyone, Ty here!
The energy in our schools is absolutely electric right now! After we officially launched rugby into our school network at the end of 2025, the kids have gone total rugby-mad. It’s been incredible to see.
What your support has already done Thanks to your donations over the last few months, we’ve been able to get the basics sorted. We’ve purchased balls, tags, bibs, and all the essential equipment to get the children out on the field. But as any athlete knows, gear is only half the battle as you need the right leader to pull it all together.
The big news: We found him! I am beyond stoked to announce that we’ve secured an absolute legend to lead our program. Meet Aya. He’s an awesome player turned coach with an incredible track record for mentoring young people. Honestly, we can’t believe he said yes!
Aya is starting with us right after Easter, and we know he’s the key to transforming this project. He’s going to get these kids prepared and ready to compete against other schools for the very first time. This isn’t just about sport; we know from experience that a strong team increases school attendance, keeps kids engaged, and really transforms the spirit of a struggling township.
The Goal: No more stop-and-start! To keep Aya on the field, we need to raise £65 a week to cover his salary. It’s a small investment for a massive impact, but the truth is we don’t want to be playing “hand-to-mouth” with his role. We want to ensure he is there for the kids every single week without the fear of funding drying up.
Imagine the confidence these kids will have by December if they have a consistent, amazing coach like Aya in their corner every week. Can we do it? I know we can!
Stay awesome,
