"Ukupi" - Where Are You

This post is probably long overdue and I know it’s about time that I get into the juicy stuff about what exactly I’ve been doing with Grassroot Soccer. The first three months have definitely been a whirlwind in terms of getting acquainted with my new surroundings as well as my duties as a Monitoring and Evaluation intern. Hence, for the title of this blog post, I felt that the word "ukupi" was fitting as I continue to find my footing and solidify my role as an intern with Grassroot Soccer. 

In these past few months, I've spent a lot of time accompanying coaches to watch them deliver interventions in schools around Soweto. I’ve had a chance to see how schools are recruited in different areas around Soweto as well as take part in coach development sessions. Furthermore, I’ve had a chance to be a part of a few different GRS programs. Matthew, my fellow intern in Soweto, and I had a chance to be a part of the planning and execution of an HCT tournament that was held at the Nike Training Center at the beginning of September. An HCT Tournament is an HIV Counseling and Testing Tournament, where teams from Soweto are invited to come play at the Nike Center and get tested for HIV. My team actually won the women's tournament!

HCT:

Team Logos - HCT Tournament Champs!

Zandile, the team captain, and I

Me and the trophy

 

Skillz 1.1 Interventions (9-14 year-olds): Practice 3 - Fact/Nonsense

Coach Brown in action

Coach Brown in action

Students discussing facts/myths about HIV

Students discussing facts/myths about HIV

Generation Skillz Interventions (15-19 year-olds): Practice 6 - Gender Stadium

Coach Gugu and students discussing their views about HIV

Coach Vuyani and students discussing their views about HIV

Skillz Holiday Camps:

Coach Bonisiwe helping students with their Player Profiles

Coach Tshepang explaining a practice to students

As the Monitoring & Evaluation intern, I expected to be much more involved with the collection and analysis of the data that is produced from the various interventions but when it comes to data compilation, my main task as M & E intern is to review Skillz Scorecards, which are basically excel sheets that document attendance and participant information. The process begins with the coaches who fill out the attendance and details about their participants and then they give this information to a designated Community Program Coordinator (CPC) who enters it all into a Scorecard. Then, the M & E point person, Annie, who is also a CPC, compiles all the Scorecards and prepares to send it to Headquarters in Cape Town. But before we ship these out, I double check the final Scorecards to make sure everything was entered properly and I send it along to our Site Coordinator. Although my contribution is a very small task within a much larger process, it is just one of the tasks that I will be involved in with M & E.

In the future, I will also have the opportunity to work on focus group discussions with participants as well as coaches in order to get feedback about what went well, what didn’t go so well and how we can improve GRS programs in the future. I will be preparing quarterly reports about the work and accomplishments of GRS to distribute to schools and the Department of Education. I am also hoping to analyze data from the pre/post surveys that are given to participants in order to gauge whether or not participants are really learning from GRS programs. The nice thing is that M&E work doesn’t only entail sitting inside all day on my computer. I also have the opportunity to visit various interventions and assess how they are being implemented.

Although I haven’t had a chance to do all of these things yet, it’s been somewhat beneficial because it has provided me with more flexibility to work on other important projects taking place at GRS Soweto. It’s tough to say exactly what a typical day would look like because it’s constantly changing, especially because we recently got a new Site Coordinator and an Office Administrator. When Matthew and I first started working at the Nike Center we had a Site Coordinator named Mandla who helped us get acquainted with our work but we soon learned that he would be moving on to the position of Program Manager, which oversees the PE, Cape Town and Lesotho sites. At the end of September Mandla left to assume his new position in Cape Town, and Soweto was left without a Site Coordinator for an entire month. Ideally, it would have made a lot of sense to have the succeeding site coordinator oriented and ready to step into the position right when Mandla left but I think staff transitions are one thing that GRS could definitely improve on in the future.

Anyway, during this interim period, Matthew and I stepped in to take care of a lot of the responsibilities that would have been overseen by the Site Coordinator. For example, Matthew took over a lot of the finances and the allocation of funds to different programs. One of the main tasks that I took on was the development of a comprehensive list of all the GRS interventions that were taking place in Soweto. Aside from the fact that it was one of the first things I noticed was missing when we arrived at the site, I found it to be even more imperative to create one when I began to make a schedule for CPCs to conduct CSVs (coach support visits) and to plan when pre/post surveys would be done in schools. (And as I mentioned before, these two things play into my role as M&E intern.)

I’ve also been writing articles and highlights for the GRS newsletter, managing inventory and supporting Skillz Street, an intervention specifically geared towards girls. Like the other Grassroot Soccer programs, Skillz Street uses a curriculum that teaches life skills as well as HIV awareness and prevention. Even more, Skillz Street is an outlet for girls to express themselves in a safe space and to discuss issues about sex and sexuality that are often considered taboo in their community. Skillz Street also helps to build a strong support system for the girls. Although I haven’t had a chance to observe the implementation of the entire intervention, Skillz Street is shaping up to be my favorite GRS program because it empowers young girls and helps to build self-esteem and confidence. Not only that, but it gives them a chance to play soccer!

It’s always interesting to hear people’s responses after explaining the concept of Skillz Street because males will often ask the inevitable question, “Why don’t the guys get their own after-school program?” This almost equivalent to the question that might circulate on a college campus, “Why can’t the white kids have their own club?” Both of these questions are telling of the fact that many people still don’t understand the inequalities that exist within society. Those who belong to the dominant group are often oblivious to the significance of initiatives that work to empower and educate those who have been disadvantaged by societal roles and constraints. For the girls in Skillz Street, it's not about being exclusive or having a "No Boys Allowed" mission, it's about leveling the playing field... and by this I don't mean just the soccer field. It's really about giving girls the life skills and support to help them make smart decisions and take control of their own life.  

Beginning at the end of October, we began a Skillz Street intervention at Vuwani Secondary School with 8^th and 9^th grade girls. The first day of Skillz Street didn’t bode so well for us… with a turnout of only 30 girls. But by the end of the week, we had a total of 101 girls ready to participate. This may be due to the fact that we don’t really do much promotion of the program, but instead we rely on announcements in the school. Another issue that has plagued us during these past few weeks of the intervention is the fact that many students are in the middle of exams, and often times the school will close early and the students are able to leave whenever they want. What makes this even more of a problem is that the school doesn’t inform us that the students will be leaving early and we often won’t be able to make sure that they stick around for Skillz Street after school. The one thing that has been reassuring is that many girls will go home and then come back to school JUST for Skillz Street. That’s a good sign!

Other difficulties that have arisen within Skillz Street involved disagreements between coaches as well as push-back from the school about having the girls tested for HIV. Unfortunately, because the South African government doesn’t support HIV testing in schools, it’s been very difficult to compromise with school administrators about how we can go about doing it. One of the final practices for Skillz Street involves getting tested, and because of the school’s opposition to testing and it’s unpredictable exam schedule, we haven’t been able to hold a graduation for the girls. Technically, the graduation was supposed to be some time last week but it’s now been rescheduled to this Thursday. Since this is my first full Skillz Street intervention I would LOVE to be there for the graduation, but since it’s been postponed for so long I won’t be able to make it because I’ll be in Cape Town for Thanksgiving. It really is disappointing. As much as I’m looking forward to reuniting with my fellow interns, it would be great to see all the girls who I’ve gotten to know over these past five weeks graduate and receive their certificates.

Skillz Street at Vuwani Seconday School

 

 

Skillz Street at Vuwani Secondary School

 

Although there have definitely been a lot of setbacks during this Skillz Street intervention, I find it to be a very valuable program and I believe that it can only get better from here on out.