The Basketball Africa League, the French Development Agency and Alley-Oop Africa held a press conference on Wednesday to unveil the main lines of their partnership which aims to promote basketball, education, equal opportunities , among other topics…
Indeed, AFD and BAL joined forces in January 2020 to set up this "edutainment" program, which is a form of entertainment for educational purposes using media such as television, social networks or other digital tools.
And sport is an important lever in this project, thanks to its virtues in terms of personal development, sharing of universal values, cohesion and awareness of the importance of civic life.
"Social inclusion of young people»
The program brought together 20 young girls and boys in a basketball academy for three weeks. They came from seven countries: Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, DR Congo, Togo, Senegal, Mali and Morocco.
“The practice of basketball across the continent is at the heart of our activities. We want to use the virtues of sport to impact the lives of people, especially young people. They must have this opportunity to take responsibility for themselves, to study, to live their passion for sport and to undertake. This requires inclusive programs that put young girls and boys on the continent in competition. They show their athletic potential but also their level of education. These two young people, Abdou Khadre Kébé and Badiallo Dicko, were chosen on a number of criteria: playing skills, behavior, public appearance, etc. The BAL has implemented several programs to promote youth and female leadership. We can cite the BAL-Elevate or BAL4Her”, mentions the president of the Basketball Africa League.
An ongoing documentary series…
Director of the French Development Agency in Rwanda, Arthur Germond highlighted the many investments in Africa in recent years. He speaks of an envelope of more than 12 million euros (7.8 billion FCFA). Indeed, AFD supports several sports development programs. It is one of Senegal's strategic partners in the organization of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
For her part, Clémentine Monnier, head of the RAES project, announces the release by the end of the year of a documentary series on the various Alley-Oop Africa camps retracing the daily life of the 250 young people who took part. It will be a series of 12 60-minute episodes.
Mor Bassine NIANG, special envoy to Kigali (Rwanda) – Record