Reducing inequality in Botswana: FIBA Foundation Youth Leader 'Gigi' Monageng creates opportunities locally

GABORONE (Botswana) - A true definition of coaches don't play is what Botswana-born Goaba 'Gigi' Monageng is, for the basketball community of Bontleng and White City.

Gigi's love for the game of basketball is what gave birth to her project: Diamonds in the Rough which she started with the goal of achieving Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced inequalities.

Humble Beginnings

Coming from a small home, Gigi had to attend public school. Offering little to no sporting activities for learners, she never got the chance to play the game as a child. The first time she was exposed to the sport of basketball was in her late teens and naturally fell into coaching almost immediately. "Seeing how much I missed out, not having been exposed to sport as a child, I vowed to myself to create this opportunity for others, hence the birth of my project", Goaba said.

Joining the FIBA family

Gigi started her Basketball For Good journey whilst still working with her local National Federation. Her continued presence at the Federation was strongly felt and this is how she was head-picked to be the FIBA Foundation Youth Leader representative for Botswana. This selection granted her the chance to be a part of the African Youth Leadership Workshop, which was hosted earlier this year, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Creating social change

The Youth Leadership seminar was a two-day workshop from 24 to 26 February organized by the FIBA Foundation in collaboration with Impact Tank and the Basketball Artists School.

The workshop was an opportunity for young, engaged people to gain additional leadership skills and to develop their own Basketball For Good projects, using basketball to create social change in their communities.

The good balance of theory and practical sessions allowed the Youth Leaders to apply the lessons in real-time and better understand them for future implementation of their own projects back in their respective countries.

“As a passionate project starter there are some things that one overlooks like financials, and this is why the budgeting portion of the workshop really stood out for me and opened my outlook on strategically running my project better,” Gigi added.

Strengthening the social footprint  

Ensuring that the workshop yields results, the Youth Leaders had continued virtual sessions to guide their kickstart or better running of their projects.

When asked about the post-workshop sessions, Monageng had this to say: “The follow-up sessions were a great accountability tool for myself personally. It helped with prioritizing not only the practical side of my project but also the theoretical part of it that included things like paperwork and administration”.

Moving Forward

Every Youth Leader project is run to socially make a difference in their respective communities and is all tied to the United Nations movement of achieving the 17 SDGs.

Focusing on less advantaged background participants, Goaba runs her project for children who do not have any safely run, or consistent in-school sporting, and after-school programs. To bridge this inequality gap, her aim is to create a basketball school to create socially aware, and healthy youths.

“Coming back from Namibia, wanting to see the lives of others being changed has really been in my heart. My project combined with the lessons learned from the FIBA Foundation will no doubt allow me to grow into an individual who lives to better the lives of others” she concluded.

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The FIBA Foundation is the social and legacy arm of FIBA that addresses the role of sports and particularly basketball in society, preserving and promoting basketball’s values and its cultural heritage.

The FIBA Foundation believes that basketball has the power to empower, educate and inspire youth and facilitates this by implementing Basketball For Good projects around the world.