Soccer as a framework for better health and better futures for kids in Mali

Care Club Foundation (CCF) uses soccer as a framework to help young people in Bamako, Mali, access the resources they need to grow and thrive—mentorship, academic support, solid meals, clean water, and more.

Ismaila Konate, one of CCF’s founders, was coaching soccer in New York but thinking about the impact the sport could have back in Mali. Through his vision and with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), what started as a volunteer effort to supply kids in Mali with soccer equipment has grown into an organized push to help kids live healthier, better lives, using soccer as a framework to help young people succeed in school, avoid and overcome health challenges, and cultivate skills for success like dedication and focus.

Building on an initial SNF grant that supported a summer soccer camp for students in Bamako and the creation of clean water infrastructure at a local school, further support from SNF significantly broadened CCF’s reach throughout the year. CFF’s soccer program, which provides dozens of students with sports-based mentorship, free meals, and health checkups over the summer, continues to serve those same kids through an afterschool program every weekday afternoon with age-tailored academic assistance.

The CCF Study and Recreation Center hosts tutoring in English, French, and math and provides access to computers and other academic materials. On the weekend, it hosts soccer games and other activities.

CCF has drilled wells and installed tanks to provide a permanent source of clean water not only to students, but to all residents of communities surrounding Bamako, in villages from Kamale, to Dogoumale, to Djatoula Plateau.

SNF believes firmly in the power of sports to bring people together, provide a framework for personal growth, and break down barriers, and CCF is proving that development that happens on the soccer pitch doesn’t stay on the pitch, but can go far beyond.