The L’Ouverture Academy Sports School Project
Projects to Support: Using Sport as a means of post-conflict development in Haiti:
With Haiti experiencing what is arguably the most challenging socio-economic conditions in its recent history as a g7+ nation, the country is calling for investment in education to empower Haition youth to reach professional opportunities and pull the fragile state out of its ever-growing gang recruitment. In order for that to happen, Founder and Director of Haitian Football Club Juvenat (FC Juvenat), James Louis-Charles proposes that investment into sport is the most viable way forward for Haition youth to access higher education and deterrant from gang activity. James is a graduate of the International University of Monaco Master of Sustainability Peace through Sport program, and as a former Country Director of GOALS Haiti, and former Athletic Director of Union School Haiti, James has seen first-hand the role that sport plays in empowering Haitian Youth. Alongside colleague Ryan French, a former Right to Dream Director and Executive Director of a large youth soccer club affiliated with the professional soccer team, Chicago Fire FC, they have co-founded The L’Ouverture Academy Sports School Project, which aims to provide the educational infrastructure and athletic support network to develop young, aspiring football players into promising athletes or students.
How it works:
Modeled after the Right to Dream Academy, the school will provide competitive education along with professional soccer training for the students athletes accepted through a rigorous selection process. The idea is twofold: first, to produce high-performing football players on track to professional recruitment, and second, to secure athletic scholarships for Haition youth at major universities abroad. Equally important, the school will focus on character development initiatives such as leadership skills, civic responsibility, gender equality, social inclusion and community service, to develop the next generation of competent and socially conscious Haitin leaders.
Credits: Goal Click
Why it is important?
Football has a high engagement level in Haiti with much talent waiting to be discovered and developed, coupled with a strong willingness for adolescents to continue education beyond high school. What is lacking is the educational infrastructure and athletic support network to develop young, aspiring football players into promising athletes or students. The L’Ouverture Academy uses football as a launching pad for social and economic development in Haiti, an exemplary example of sport as a means of post-conflict development.