We are excited to share that Kick4Life’s new Youth Employability Programme has been selected for the 2026-27 cohort of the Sport for Education and Sustainable Livelihoods in Africa (SESLA) initiative.
As such, we are one of 23 community-based organisations working across Africa to receive funding from partners including International Olympic Committee – IOC, Agence Française de Développement, Comic Relief, and several leading African and European sport for development institutions.
All of the projects are united in using sport to advance education, employability and economic empowerment for African youth, with 1 in 4 young people in Africa – around 72 million – are not in formal education, employment or training.
Through the programme, Kick4Life will provide 16 young people from Lesotho with three-month internships at Kick4Life, with the aim of empowering participants with transferable & vocational employability skills, as well as careers guidance and progressions to further training and employment, with Kick4Life and externally.
With a focus on young athletes from the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) and Kick4Life’s football teams, the initiative will provide work experience opportunities within Kick4Life’s varied operations including our social enterprises: No.7 Restaurant, Hokahanya Inn & Conference Centre and Bophelo Gymnasium. Placements will also be available in Community Programmes, Football Club operations and Administration, including finance, HR, IT, marketing and groundskeeping.
Kick4Life’s Country Director, Motlatsi Nkhahle, said: “Young athletes in Lesotho are profoundly impacted by employment challenges. They typically come from low-income families, forcing them to balance their elite sports training with daily survival, often facing severe resource constraints and an uncertain future once their athletic careers conclude. The fear of long-term unemployment, alongside the pressures of competing, can cause immense psychological stress, with many worrying about their long-term employability after relatively short athletic careers, with a lack of relevant work experience and vocational skills”.
He continued: “This is despite many young athletes possessing highly valuable transferable skills, such as commitment, self-discipline, resilience and motivation, resulting in a huge loss of potential when these young people are unable to access meaningful work opportunities and the chance to contribute back to their communities. The Youth Employability Programme is therefore highly needed and relevant as it will directly address many of the barriers which are preventing young people and young athletes from achieving sustainable livelihoods”.
Through our partnership with Wrexham University, Sara Hilton, Senior Lecturer in Football and Coaching Science, will be visiting Lesotho in the coming months to conduct baseline research for the initiative, as part of an academic evaluation of the programme that will assess its impact on the internees, including skills development and progressions.
