Pakistan’s ‘Ballin on the Streets’ Program to tip off after Eid
ISLAMABAD (Pakistan) – It was a chance encounter that got Sana Mahmud to conceptualize the ‘Ballin on the Streets’ program.
As program manager of international non-profit Right to Play, Mahmud was helming a ‘basketball-for-development’ session for young girls in 2021, when a few out-of-school children started “collecting on the ground”. Upon involving them in various drills that emphasized teamwork and fair play, Mahmud was struck by their level of insecurity.
“It was getting hard for them because they’re used to being on alert on the streets…The kids were so possessive about the ball I gave that they didn’t want to leave it on the court,” Mahmud tells FIBA Foundation.
Inclusive Playgrounds
Having grown up playing in the public parks in and around Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad, Mahmud could relate to the children, more so being a woman.
“There are few sectors in my city with these parks that are free for the public and you will see kids coming to these parks who are from elite or middle-class backgrounds, and they are the ones playing the game. But you will see a lot of the other children sitting by the courts and wondering what this game is,” Mahmud says.
The desire to include street children within the organized basketball framework led Mahmud to apply for a financial grant under FIBA Foundation’s ‘Propose a Project’ program.
Propose A Project: A Transparent Application Process
“The process was fairly simple,” Mahmud notes. “The Foundation had explained it very well: what are our priority areas, what’s the word limit, the form was online, [and] it was a fairly straightforward form as well. Preparing a budget was not even a problem and I think it was a very transparent process.”
A former member of Pakistan’s national basketball and football teams, Mahmud has been a recipient of a similar Basketball For Good grant offered by the US Embassy in 2019. A year earlier, she had also participated in Asia’s first ‘Mini Basketball’ convention hosted by Sri Lanka.
The grants are excellent for people who have these kinds of ideas and want to be supported. I think FIBA Foundation is giving it to those people who care about what they want to do, and that comes [through] in your application. When you know what to do then clarity of application is also important: why are you doing this, what’s the context, who are these children you’ll be working with, what is the need, and what will be the impact? So, if you can justify and build a good rationale, there is no reason it wouldn’t be accepted or approved.”
Tipping off after Eid
The estimated impact of Mahmud’s ‘Ballin on the Streets’ program, which will be executed in collaboration with Right to Play, Islamabad Basketball Association, and Pakistan Basketball Federation, is 15 Youth Leaders and 75 children.
With the holy month of Ramadan – traditionally a lean period for sporting activities – underway, Mahmud is hopeful of launching ‘Ballin on the Streets’ after Eid. “We’ll have these kids from the streets come over and try to get young leaders to…teach them. My focus is on giving children a hope to do better and that time give them a kind of lifetime experience, which will inspire them to do more with their lives.”
FIBA Foundation’s Project a Project program for 2023 is currently open till April 15th. Interested applicants can learn more about the initiative here.
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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.
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