Friday , March 29 2024

GIZ and VfB Stuttgart help in Kenya!

Social action and projects are also of great concern to VfB Stuttgart outside Germany. For several years, VfB has supported charitable projects in Kenya. To this end, a delegation from the club travelled to the Nyandarua region in April and hosted various events in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

The cooperation with GIZ included a workshop and the organisation of football camps during VfB’s visit to Kenya. Over the course of four days, 24 Kenyan football coaches received an introduction to the S4D (‘Sports for Development’) approach designed specifically for developing countries, and discussed the importance of environmental awareness and sustainability in today’s world as well as gender equality in sport. The workshop, organised by VfB, was led by S4D instructor Andrew Oloo. At the end of the multi-day workshop, all participants received the ‘Official VfB Stuttgart S4D Workshop Certificate’.

At the ‘VfB Kids Camp’, VfB organised a football camp for 80 children with the support of GIZ and 18 local coaches. In a circuit course, the children practised catching, coordination and football games, were taught important values, played an environmental quiz and organised their own competitions.

The week-long visit ended with the organisation of the ‘VfB Family Fun Day 2023′ in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. 200 girls and boys from the ‘Kick off to Hope’ project, run by Kenya’s former captain and most capped international Musa Otieno, received numerous tips on playing with the ball and were given food rations for a whole week as well as VfB jerseys. This project was also implemented in conjunction with GIZ.

The interest in VfB and the Bundesliga was also felt outside the capital Nairobi during the trip. In order to satisfy the Bundesliga’s growing target market of Kenya, the ‘VfB Family Fun Day 2023′ was therefore accompanied by StarTimes, the official Bundesliga TV broadcaster in Kenya, to produce features for the league’s platforms.

At the beginning of the trip, the VfB delegation, along with GIZ and NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union), had met with the Governor of County Nyandarua, Moses N. Badilisha Kiarie, and Minister for Sport Cate Gitau, to discuss the preservation of the crane population as well as the region around Lake Ol’ Bolossat to the north of the capital Nairobi. The visit was also the opportunity to launch a cooperation between the County and VfB and its partners, who used sport to help create awareness among the children and youngsters of the threat to Lake Ol’ Bolossat. Preserving the lake and its biodiversity has been a real priority for VfB ever since the club first visited Kenya. Sports Minister Cate Gitau announced the intention of increasing professionalism in sport, with a new football pitch to be maintained by the County and the surrounding population, with VfB and its partners committing their support.

VfB chief marketing and sales officer Rouven Kasper only had positive words about the delegation’s visit to Kenya: “Activities of this kind are part of our internationalisation strategy. VfB is one of the first clubs to promote and develop football in Africa with a holistic approach. We’re grateful to have a strong partner in the GIZ, which enables such projects. Further partners and companies who want to tackle similar topics with us are very welcome.”

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