Sport works! More about Right To Play’s existing work in Pakistan

Right To Play has been active in Pakistan since 2002, working in partnership with Insan Foundation at Afghan refugee camps. Children comprise 60% of the 4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Many of these children do not attend school and cannot pursue a healthy lifestyle. Drug use and truancy were common, and girls had little opportunity to take part in activities outside their families.

Right to Play has been running SportWorks projects in the refugee camps. In 2005, the programme was implemented in 18 Afghan refugee schools throughout Peshawar and Quetta. Teachers in all the schools received training and incorporated games in their lessons between two and five days per week, so that 5800 Afghan refugee children participated in games on a weekly basis.

As a result of their participation, coaches have observed many positive changes in individual children and in the community including:

  • An increase in school attendance;
  • A decrease in school tardiness and truancy;
  • An improvement in student/teacher relations;
  • An increased interest in academic studies.

    • In addition, boys who once relied on drugs for entertainment have been encouraged to participate in sporting activities as an alternative. As a result of their participation and the efforts of the coaches, recreational drug use has significantly decreased and many of the boys have quit.

    Following the principle of inclusion, females and children with a disability have been encouraged to participate since project inception. As a result, 80% of the total beneficiaries are female. Females are leading on both project sites; they are in larger number as Coaches and there are more girls’ schools participating in the SportWorks project than boys’ schools. In addition to RCP activities, women’s Badminton and Cricket teams have been formed in Peshawar and a women’s Badminton team is being formed in Quetta.

    These projects were all focused on Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

    Through the Long Ride Home, we hope to raise enough money to enable Right To Play to now extend their work in Pakistan, and now help the earthquake-affected communities in the same way they helped the Afghan refugee communities.

    You can see some great photos in the Gallery of the Afghan children enjoying badminton, cricket, and special ball games. The photos were taken by RTP’s Nancy Zorzi a couple of months ago. Enjoy the smiles! Post a blog on this site with your comments!