Back in January we announced the launch of our new Accredited Coach initiative. Accredited Coaches are the only coaches in the world equipped with Education Outside the Classroom training to impact the UNSDGs and Safe-Guarding Child Rights through Purposeful Play curriculum and methodology. For more information please visit this blog.
Coaches Across Continents has had the honour of working with and supporting tens of thousands of coaches, teachers and community leaders across the world since our inception in 2008. Amongst our most engaging and enthusiastic partners are our Community Impact Coaches (CIC’s), who are the local leaders in their communities and have the passion to deliver social change through sport. We have designed this initiative to further enhance their skill set and are delighted to announce the first six of them below…
Nico Achimpota – Kigoma – Tanzania
Nico Pota is a Tanzanian CIC and is one of the original members of CAC, contributing to the birth of CAC’s first programme in 2008. Since then Nico has been dedicated to bringing sustainable social change to developing communities in multiple countries in Africa. He truly cares about communities and believes that education is the most sustainable way to help people reach their goals and change their lives. Nico is an inspiring community leader, a respectful teacher, and an all-around sportsman.
Daniela Gutierrez – Juego en tu Barrio – Peru
Daniela Gutierrez Neciosup is a community leader in every sense of the term. She has invested in her city of Lima, Perú through involvement and leadership in many different organizations including her current initiative, Juega en tu Barrio. She has been a CAC Community Impact Coach since we first met her in 2014 and has traveled with CAC all over Perú and to México and Ecuador. Her life motto says it all – “PASSION MADE ACTION: Transform everything you are passionate about into actions that allow us to build a better world”.
Jaspreet Kaur – Rurka Kalan YFC – India
A CIC since 2015, Jaspreet has travelled across India and to Qatar with CAC. Jaspreet is also the Project Manager at YFC Rurka Kalan in Punjab – one of India’s leading youth football academies. A passionate believer in the power of sport and how it can change lives, Jaspreet is a trailblazer in creating and delivering innovative projects that impact children and young people in her community, across india and beyond.
Elvis Nshimba – Malaika – Democratic Republic of Congo
A CIC since 2015, Elvis Nshimba is the Programs and Evaluation Manager at Malaika. Elvis joined Malaika as a teacher in 2012 and in 2014, joined the first on-field training with CAC, where he then got involved in using sport as a tool to educate communities. Elvis’ goal is to ‘tirelessly impact youths and adults from the community center and regional schools towards sustainable development, training and i’m committed in supporting youths to become coaches’.
Saraswati Negi – Naz Foundation – India
A CIC since 2019, Saraswati has delivered programming in India and the Phillipines with CAC and is a champion of womens and girls rights across the world. Saraswati works as Training Coordinator with The Naz Foundation (India) Trust. In her role she is responsible for managing, designing, reviewing, redesigning and conducting all TOT programs in Naz for capacity building of staff. She leads the mainstreaming of Abhayam- Naz Child Protection of children and young vulnerable adults within Naz’s activities. Saraswati derives motivation from young people’s leadership and strives to work for them and with them.
David Mulo – Green Kenya – Kenya
After attending several CAC trainings from 2010-2013, David was inspired to take the leap and start his own NGO in 2013 called Green Kenya. Green Kenya works with schools and runs programmes to use sport for social empowerment with a focus on women’s rights and the environment. David became a CIC in 2017 whilst being Director of Green-Kenya. He has travelled across Kenya and to Malawi with CAC – delivering Purposeful Play programming and David mentioned he now has a burning desire to change the world through play.
Salim Twaha Blanden – Mbarara Sports Academy – Uganda
Salim is the founder of Mbarara Sports Academy in Uganda and was the first ever Community Impact Coach in the country! Salim uses sports and purposeful play to connect with children and young people to create awareness about different issues affecting his community and other communities in Uganda.
Patrina Kaye Nartea Caceres – FundLife International – Philippines
Patrina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts Degree from the University of the Philippines and is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching at the Leyte Normal University. She has been a football coach since 2010. She is presently a college instructor of the Eastern Visayas State University and a football coach /mentor of FundLife International. She has been a CAC Community Impact Coach (CIC) since 2015. She pursues her motto of “helping change the world, one class/ football team at a time”.
Benedict Marquis – Sports With A Mission – India
Benedict M, founder of Sports With A Mission teaches life skills through sports, to underprivileged children and youth, using purposeful play and self directed learning. He creates safe spaces for children and youth especially for girls and women to explore and express themselves.
Lina Restrepo – INDER Medellín – Colombia
Lina is a former player for Atlético Nacional and Antioquia Soccer Team. She now is a Psychologist, Specializing in Activity Psychology, Physics and Sports, and currently works as a professor at the Universidad San Buenaventura. In Lina’s words “Since 2015, the experience with CAC in Urabá, Bogotá, Chile and other places of the world, has allowed me to find new directions in my life: to know what is beyond high performance, and that we have the power to be intentional with Sport for the Development in our communities, playing for social purposes from sexual education, mental health, diversity, interculturality, questioning traditional sport, gender violence and much more.”
Psicóloga, Especialista en Psicología de la Actividad Física y el Deporte. Exjugadora de Atlético Nacional y Selección Antioquia de Fútbol. Actualmente, docente de la Universidad San Buenaventura e integrante del equipo Deporte y Convivencia del INDER Medellín.
Desde el año 2015, la experiencia con CAC en Urabá, Bogotá, Chile y otros lugares del mundo, ha permitido encontrar nuevas direcciones en mi vida: conocer que más allá del alto rendimiento, tenemos el poder de intencionar el Deporte para el Desarrollo de nuestras comunidades, jugar con propósitos sociales de educación sexual, salud mental, diversidad, interculturalidad, cuestionar el deporte tradicional, las violencias de género y mucho más.
