Grassroot Soccer South Africa was proud to participate in Global Money Week, the international money awareness celebration that engages over 3 million youth from 100 countries to learn about financial education, money, savings and entrepreneurship.
This year’s theme, “Save Today. Safe Tomorrow,” focused on empowering the next generation to develop smart saving habits to ensure a safe future.
GRS Coaches participate in a "Trade Off" Activity as part of Global Money Week.
50 Grassroot Soccer Coaches from Khayelitsha, South Africa’s second largest township on the outskirts of Cape Town, engaged in two financial education activities, “Trade Off” and “The Saving Game” from the Ragball International Curriculum.
Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire and mobilize young people to stop the spread of HIV. Ragball International is an economic development program that uses an interactive sport-based curriculum to teach financial literacy skills and empower young people to take action and take control of their financial futures.
GRS Coaches express reasons to save money as part of Global Money Week.
In “The Saving Game”, Coaches explored the differences between a spending culture and a saving culture, and looked at examples from their community. Each Coach took a savings pledge to make one small change in their spending habits that will help them save money over time. One Coach said that in order to reach her long term goal of going to college, she would stop buying soft drinks on the weekends. “Although it may seem like a small change, over time it will help me save money.”
“Trade Off” helps young people discover what they gain and sacrifice in order to achieve personal long-term goals. Coach Zinzi spoke about how she saved money from every paycheck, “giving up” going out with her friends while “gaining” enough savings to buy her own small house.
Overall the activities were a great success and, as Coach Sonele shared, “I came away from today understanding that saving money can be hard, but if I have a plan and stick to it, I can achieve my long term goals.”