The GOALS literacy project seeks to teach basic reading, writing and numeracy skills to low- and non-literate youth (ages 8 and up) and/or adults who are financially and geographically cut off from traditional schooling. In the long-term, the project seeks to create fully literate villages in order to improve health, earning potential and well-being.
In the isolated, subsistence-based villages where GOALS works, there are no schools, no paved roads and no electricity or running water. Nearly all adults are low- or non-literate and just 72% of children attend school. The 'Leveling the Playing Field' literacy project uses the power of sport to build locally-led literacy programming in order to create fully literate communities, thereby improving local leadership, health and future earning potential.
GOALS uses football in Haiti to engage youth, their families and their communities in sport, health, and education projects. By using football as a platform for development, GOALS reaches children who are left behind by conventional educational systems. It is this network of local coaches and athletes who implement the GOALS literacy program. For children who have never attended school or learned to hold a pencil, incorporating play increases retention, and helps to socially integrate learners.
In response to community feedback and an assessed need, GOALS integrated a locally-led literacy program into our ongoing sport-for-development activities in two rural villages in the 3eme Dessources region of Leogane. Amongst participating children (ages 8 -19), none had progressed past grade four in school, and only 25% were able to write their own names at the beginning of the course. Two-thirds of 64 participating boys and girls never attended school past first grade.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
