Today I’d like to recognize a collaborative sports effort that pushes for gender equality, teaches about AIDS/HIV prevention, builds life-skills for at-risk youth, and provides educational opportunities for women and girls in Kenya.

The team began with a few primary players: CARE (a humanitarian organization that fights global poverty) and their Sport for Social Change Initiative, Nike Let Me Play (a youth-directed program to fight global poverty and oppression through sports), and the Mathare Youth Soccer Association (dedicated to empowering impoverished youth in Kenya through sports and community service projects).

Once these three players got together to kick some ideas around on the playing field, they realized that they were unstoppable. They chose a team name—the Kenyan American Soccer Exchange, or KASE—and scored goal after goal empowering women and girls in Kenya.

The KASE Girls USA Tour brought Kenyan teams to the States to build relationships and play soccer. KASE also hosts workshops to train Kenyan coaches, build political and economic support for women’s sports in Kenya, and assist Universities in developing women’s sports programs.  

* also check out my previous post detailing MYSA's amazing program in Mathare, Kenya