The FELS Concept: Education and Aspiration through Football

Football: The FELS Training Concept

The goal: Gaining the trust of the youth by providing great training conditions and letting them enjoy playing football
Problem statement: Training conditions are very bad (shoes with holes, lack of balls, bad pitches, missing training
materials and coaches with a lack of adequate coaching training)
Even though the conditions are bad, children and adolescents follow their biggest passion football on a daily bases
FELS solution approach: Leveling the pitches and guaranteeing good training conditions and contents by providing
material (shoes, balls, ) and immaterial support (volunteers modern coaching concepts)
The effect: The kids are unbelievably grateful and motivated to do more for school/job as not to loose the support
Football as a medium which guarantees that our teenagers take our educational efforts serious at all

Education: The FELS Education Concept

The goal: To challenge the two biggest problems of the Tanzanian educational system
Problem statement 1:
Secondary schools (classes 8-11) are taught in English,
but students do not speak the language well

Problem statement 2:
Youth unemployment (15-25 years) is dramatically
growing (from 10% 2001 to >55% 10 years later)

90% of our youth do not pass final exams well or at

all, which is strongly reflected in problem
statement 2 about youth unemployment

After finishing school, our adolescents take being

unemployed for granted. They do not have any plans
for their future ( >90% of our youths are unemployed)

FELS solution approach:

Clarifying the importance of a good school education
to the kids; daily homework support and weekly
English lessons for all pupils (in holidays daily classes)

FELS solution approach:

Active support of our adolescents in planning their
own future Preparation for and support by looking
for a job / vocational training / college / university

The effect: Our youths gain perspectives for their live again both private and familial (prerequisite for an independent life)
Our set of values are a prerequisite that our educational efforts can have any effect at all

Life Skills: The FELS Set of Values

The goal: Providing our kids with a set of values that helps them to master challenges in life successfully
Problem statement: The adolescents who are mostly born in very poor families lack the set of values which is
is needed to be successful in the modern Tanzanian society and economy
Issues like not being in time, a lack of self reflection, lack of ambition or being unemployed are normal for the youth
FELS solution approach: In the daily life, monthly workshops (topics like team building, planning ones future, HIV,
arts, ) and our life counselling we teach values like discipline, self-awareness or ambition
The effect: We want our youths to reflect their actions and to set goals both in private and at school regarding a job

The FELS-Project: Football, Education, Life Skills