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a young blind soccer player dribbles a ball
Bina Foundation’s blind football and Para-powerlifting programs have helped youth with disabilities in Nigeria to develop their sporting and other skills.

In 2017, the Bina Foundation, an organization committed to the holistic development of youth with disabilities, charged me with the responsibility to come up with an organized and well-structured disability sports program that would improve participants’ intellectual alertness and stimulate their desire for education and skill development.

After recruiting staff and volunteers for the program, I carried out extensive research into existing disability sports. My team compiled many innovative ideas and came up with a list of disability sports including Para-powerlifting, blind football, goal ball and chess for the blind. The list was then narrowed down and recommendations were made to the management.

The Foundation’s management approved the reports and the recommendations to develop blind football and Para-powerlifting in 2017. My team went into action and with the support of the management, Bina Foundation’s Blind Football and Para-Powerlifting projects became a reality, within four months.

In the last 4 years, Bina Foundation’s two disability sports projects have recorded tremendous success. Our programs have evidence-based impacts, following a noticeably progressive and steadily increasing number of young people coming to the Foundation for sports career development.

Blind football

We have been able to train over 150 youth in blind football and 50 officials in the Academy at Enugu-Nigeria. Further, 425 youth and sports teachers have been trained and equipped during the first phase of Bina Foundation’s in-school blind football project. We have been able to cover all the special schools in 6 states in Nigeria.

Within these 4 years, Bina Foundation has produced national level blind football players in both men’s and women’s games. After drawing the attention of the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development to our programs, blind football has been included in the Para Athletic Federation of Nigeria. The International Blind Football Federation (IBSA) has also recognized Bina Foundation and accorded it the position of IBSA representative for Nigeria.

Para-powerlifting

In the last 4 years, Bina Foundation has committed considerable resources for the development of Bina Lifters. It sponsored the Southeast Junior Para-Powerlifting Games in 2019 and also funded the Bina Foundation lifters’ participation in the 2018 Abuja Para-Athletics Federation Tournament. Few of our lifters qualified for the 2020 Para-Powerlifting Championship in Georgia, but it was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Both disability sports have trickle-down effect in all thematic areas of Bina Foundation’s work. Once the programs started, I noticed an increase in the number of students registered for our annual skills development training for persons with disabilities. Before the introduction of disability sports, each year we got about 100 students. But since the programs started, over 200 students sign up every year, and batches have been introduced to accommodate the growing numbers. The number of our students that have been admitted to various universities in Nigeria has tripled in the past 4 years, which must be credited to the disability sports programs.

Bina Foundation’s strategic and committed efforts have contributed to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and implementation of UNCRPD in Nigeria remained on track. My team is not relenting till victory is assured and with evidence-based results.

We continue to learn disability best practices in order to make inclusion work in Nigeria. While COVID-19 halted our activities for almost a year, we are working to seek more funding to keep our skills development training center open. Further, our disability sports activities are back and building up strong.

Recently, Bina Foundation hosted and co-sponsored the International Blind Football Foundation Neighboring Countries Challenges Series, between Nigeria and Ghana. The event was a big success and opened the way for blind football activities in both countries.

There is great future for persons with disabilities in sports – what one need is to believe in their ability, and the universe will align to make it a reality.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Chibuzo Orame is a social worker and a disability development consultant, with focal interest in inclusive education, disability data and sports development. He works for Bina Foundation Nigeria as the Senior Program Officer (Gender and Inclusion). He is also a student of African Civic Engagement Academy, ACEA. eLearning Commons, University of Georgia.

Tags

Country
Nigeria
Ghana
Region
Africa
Sport
Football (Soccer)
Sustainable Development Goals
10 – Reduced inequalities
Target Group
Persons with disabilities
Youth

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