Basket4All
A Programme of Talent in Values
Basket4All is a socio-educational and socio-sports programme that promotes formal education and encourages the personal development of girls, boys, and youth using basketball as a motivational tool.
The Talent Academy is a high-level socio-sport basketball academy launched in October 2023 that promotes the social and technical development of young people in Kinshasa. We work with 30 boys and girls aged 12 to 16 with high potential, who receive training in sports skills and social values.
Throughout their holistic training, these high-potential athletes are educated according to the Learning and Service (LPS) model so that our participants can become agents of change by promoting social values and good sporting practices to younger people, in line with Xcalibur Foundation’s main Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education.
Why the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), education faces significant challenges. According to UNICEF, 1 in 3 children do not complete primary education and even less at higher educational levels. This situation especially affects girls, who encounter greater obstacles due to early pregnancies and marriages. For instance, in the second cycle of secondary education (ages 12 to 17), the out-of-school rate for girls stands at 33%, which is 10% higher than for boys.
The situation is more severe in rural areas, where 28% of children are not enrolled in school, compared to 13% in urban areas. Moreover, there are signififcant disparities between the rich and poor households: while 92% of children from wealthy households complete primary education, only 34% do so in poorer households. This gap widens further in upper secondary education, with a completion rate of 65% among the wealthiest, contrasting with 8% among the poorest.
In Kinshasa, the most populated city in the country (9 million inhabitants), more than 20% of children are out of school. Given this alarming situation that endangers the children and youth of the DRC, especially girls, we decided to concentrate our efforts in the capital with the idea to extend across the country and promote awareness of the importance of education. Our aim is to generate a positive impact using the social cohesion tools prevalent within the community, specifically through basketball.
"Our main objective is to improve the well-being of the youth of the country'"
Talent in Values
Following our model of socio-educational and socio-sporting academies, our goal is to foster the personal development of the children by working on socio-emotional skills such as self-esteem and critical thinking, allowing them to work on personal values and specific social values such as respect, equality and inclusion so that participants can gain commitment, learn about team work and friendship, as well as transfer all this learning to other areas of their lives and to other young people, through Learning and Service Learning (LLS) dynamics.
As a cornerstone of our programme in Kinshasa, The Talent Academy provides training sessions in which our two coaches and a social worker provide comprehensive support for the participants’ well-being in their homes and socio-economic situation. In this case, the accompaniment provided by our social worker, Nelly, is based on a complete social investigation of the participants and their families, both educationally and socio-economically. Continuous school attendance and academic achievements are essential requirements for these athletes to join the Talent Academy. Our strategic partner, Zentro Basket Madrid, leads the scouting and selection process of talent, as well as the development of the Sports programme and contributes to the development and implementation of the social aspect of the programme, specifically the sports values.
In addition to the training and social monitoring, our academy has a health component that includes a nutritional line whereby the participants receive snacks as well as products so that they can supplement their diet at home. Furthermore, the girls receive specific accompaniment with awareness sessions on menstrual hygiene management and receive sanitary pads. Within the health programme, as in the rest of our programmes, we also carry out medical checks-up that allow participants not only to cure injuries, but also to prevent them, giving them the coverage, they need so that nothing slows down their talent.
Our main objective is to improve the well-being of young people in the country. Therefore, in addition to the daily follow-up activities we conduct at the Talent Academy, we organise Basket4All camps so that other young people outside the academy can also receive training in values and basketball. This gives them the opportunity to experience high-level sports training and discover the methodology we use to teach values through sport.
Aligning with the 2030 Goals
At our foundation, we align our activities with several specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to maximise our impact and contribute to a better future. In order not to lose sight of our overall mission, the main SDG that we address in all our programmes is SDG 4: Quality Education. The specific SDGs of Basket4all programme are the following:
3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.
3.8 Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic and public life.
8.6 By 2030, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.
Who makes Basket4All possible?
For our second programme in the African continent, our main objective is to promote social development and foster basketball talent. To achieve this value-boosting technical training, we rely on Zentro Basket Madrid, which not only trains young athletes, but also strengthens their social and community opportunities. In the words of Fernando Reborio, founder and CEO of Zentro Basket, ‘we are not only training better players, but we are also creating better people’. Thanks to the training that Reborio himself is giving to our coaches and participants, the entire Talent Academy is aligned to attain these goals in sport and human improvement.
Thanks to the financial support and social commitment of FirstBank DRC, Alimo, Momo, and OL Consult SARL, our participants receive the support and tools necessary for their full development. The Basket4All programme is supported by the Provincial Basketball League of Kinshasa (LIPROBAKIN), and at the institutional level, the Foundation’s activities in the DRC are backed by the Ministry of Mines and the Congolese organisation AFEPRO (Association Femme et Promotion).
Committed to Change
At Basket4all, we are committed to create a positive and lasting impact in the Congolese communities we work with through all our social and sporting activities that aim to improve health and well-being, promote gender equality, and protect and manage conflict to foster the most positive environment for the community we work with. We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to develop to their full potential, and we are dedicated to making this vision a reality.
Join us in this mission and be part of the change we want to see in the world! Together, we can build a better future for the next generations.
