Reporting the impacts of our work has always been important to The Atlas Foundation. It gives us a way to log real-world outcomes, share how we are using the generous contributions and donations made by our supporters, and showcase why sustained efforts to improve the life chances of the world’s most deprived children are vital.
In many cases, we look at big-picture results, from the hundreds of thousands of children we have supported, the partners we collaborate with, and the countries in which Atlas projects are ongoing. Still, individual stories can be just as powerful and demonstrate the real value of our work.
Today, we’d like to share a case study of our projects with Little Sports Organisation Kenya (LSO). This partner scheme focuses on helping children living in extreme poverty to access education, opportunity, and skills development, with remarkable outcomes that have undoubtedly changed the lives of their communities forever.
The Atlas Foundation and Little Sports Organisation Kenya
The Kenyan slums are a hard place for children to thrive, with 56% of the country’s urban population living in these makeshift areas. They have little in the way of electricity, sanitation or clean water. In this setting, education is a luxury that is afforded only to the wealthy, with generational exposure to profound issues, including:
- Little to no education or literacy tuition
- High risks of communicable disease
- Elevated levels of crime and poverty
Of the families residing in Kenyan slums, almost 40% survive on under £1.50 a day, something LSO has been working to tackle for 17 years. It runs schemes like the Pathways Coach Development Programme, training young coaches, offering mentoring, and ensuring children become empowered, confident, literate and aspirational individuals.
Alongside these initiatives, LSO provides children with healthy meals, supports their schooling, and ensures access to clean water. It also offers local mothers jobs, assisting with tasks like cooking, and sets up interest-free loans to help parents launch their own businesses.
Like all Atlas partners, LSO works to create sustained change, rather than short-term relief. They have, to date, supported over 274,000 children through weekly school sports and life skill sessions, and trained over 1,000 coaches, who go on to earn stable incomes and uplift their families, peers and communities to find a path out of poverty.
Creating Access to Scholarship Programs for Children in Kenya
One of the benefits for the children who receive support through LSO, and specifically its coaching development initiative, is that they have the chance to earn scholarships, a truly life-changing opportunity!
This year, seven LSO girls have been awarded full scholarships to top national rugby high schools, following two and a half years of hard work and commitment. All have earned their places and demonstrated they have the skill and ambition to make the most of this opportunity.
We are incredibly proud to play a part in this scheme, and of the recognition awarded to children who, without ongoing support and the invaluable mentoring they receive through LSO, would never have had the resources to access this level of rugby training.
One of those children, Salome, shared her story, which stands as a beacon of hope and resilience. Her circumstances were exceptionally challenging, having lost her father in a tragic accident at just 10. This devastating loss was followed by severe upheaval after her mother’s marriage to her stepfather. Salome found herself without care or access to school, culminating in running away to find refuge with her aunt and uncle.
At this juncture, LSO came to Salome’s school and introduced her to the world of rugby – something she embraced to become a talented, respected player with strong friendships and community ties.
Salome is one of the seven girls to have now been granted a full scholarship, along with an invitation to try out for the U18 National Team next year, a testament to the ways rugby opens doors that had seemed welded shut.
Why Education and Empowerment Provide Children With the Tools to Reshape Their Futures
The Atlas Foundation’s mission is to make the world a fairer and kinder place for children like Salome and her peers, many of whom face intense adversity and poverty. The answer to these widespread challenges must be long-standing, giving children the resources and courage they need to find a way out of generational cycles.
This is why education is such a crucial pillar of our work. As this one case study shows, it provides compelling outcomes, where children gain the capabilities they need to find meaningful work, challenge cultural norms that cause harm, and make independent decisions about their own lives.
LSO and Atlas together have already achieved some fantastic outcomes, including:
- Improvements in child attendance in 79% of supported schools
- Positive impacts on academic performance and grades through regular participation
- Reductions in bullying through programmes to make schools safer places to learn
In the western world, we often take education for granted, but in Kenya, and so many other regions, it is scarce and ill-resourced, which makes opportunities to enrol in a high-quality school or apply for a scholarship at a respected boarding school impossible.
We have seen first-hand the transformative impact LSO makes and cannot wait to hear about the journey of these seven scholars, who have already shown enormous tenacity and motivation in reaching a level at which academic and rugby schools are actively inviting LSO children to enrol.
Learn More About The Atlas Foundation’s Work With LSO in Kenya
Further details about our ongoing work in Kenya with LSO, and more detailed case studies are readily available through our pages focused on Salome’s Story and the Little Sports Org, and we welcome any partners, supporters, contributors or fundraisers to explore testimonials from the children, sharing their experiences in their own words.
If you’d like to get involved, you’ll also find an explanation of where the money goes, with just £20 enabling us to purchase a pair of shoes to allow another girl to join LSO rugby sessions, £9.50 providing school supplies for ten children for three months, and £7 helping LSO provide clean drinking water for all the girls at this month’s training sessions.
