Grassroot Soccer: Health Education Through the Beautiful Game

Founded in 2002 after former professional footballer Tommy Clark saw HIV's toll on his teammates in Zimbabwe, Grassroot Soccer built the SKILLZ curriculum, which uses soccer-themed activities led by trained near-peer coaches to teach adolescents about HIV, sexual and reproductive health, and mental wellbeing. The organisation has reached more than 25 million young people with life-saving health information through programmes that have run in more than 60 countries, with active operations currently in 21. Randomized controlled trials backing the model have found participants are three times less likely to acquire new HIV infections, alongside sharp reductions in depression among youth in its mental-health programming.