The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that The Little Optimist Trust, a South African NPO, has been awarded a grant worth €26 000, Cape {town} Etc reports.
The Little Optimist Sailing Academy and Trust teach sailing skills to disadvantaged, sick and marginalised children, giving them much-needed confidence and joy.
Based in Cape Town, the NPO has been chosen as a ‘Laureate for the prestigious Sustained insight and Impact Initiative’.
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The programme was launched in collaboration with the IOC to sustain and scale the social impact legacy of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Para-Olympic games.
The Trust’s sailing therapy programme has been identified as a ‘project with great potential’ to help build a better world through sport.
For the past three years, The Little Optimist Sailing Therapy Academy has used sailing as a ‘positive mental-health intervention’.
Over 1 000 young participants have had access, opportunity, education and therapeutic intervention via this programme.
Experts from the African sport ecosystem, La Guilde and students at Amsterdam University have researched the impact of The Little Optimist’s work.
In 2021, The Little Optimist Trust won one of only nine grants offered by IMPACT 2024 Paris Olympics, the only South African NPO to ‘be declared a winner’.
The new award and funding will help to sustain the organisation’s programmes and scale the Sailing Therapy Academy.
‘The news is a huge honour and will allow us to expand our reach as it will enable the set up of multiple sites in South Africa, and will allow for the development and piloting of further multi-day programmes,’ said Greg Bertish, The Little Optimist Trust founder.
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Picture: Supplied