MIES (Switzerland) – The FIBA Foundation and Tambai Zimbabwe have been selected for the Sport for Refugees Coalition Collaborative Action Grant Initiative, recognizing the potential of their innovative project to advance climate action and social inclusion through basketball.
Funded by the Olympic Refuge Foundation, the program supports innovative partnerships that use sport to foster inclusion, protection, and resilience in communities. The initiative encourages collaboration between sport organizations, grassroots actors, and refugee-led initiatives to create sustainable impact through sport.
Selected among projects from across the Sport for Refugees Coalition network, the FIBA Foundation’s initiative responds to one of the program's key focus areas: mobilizing sport for climate-affected communities. The grant will support the implementation of Green Hoops: Refugee-Led Climate Action through Basketball in Tongogara, Zimbabwe.
Delivered by Tambai Zimbabwe in partnership with the FIBA Foundation, the project will engage young people from refugee and host communities in and around Tongogara Refugee Settlement through weekly Basketball For Good sessions that blend basketball with climate education and community action.
Building on the climate action chapter of the FIBA Foundation’s Basketball For Good Playbook, young participants will identify local environmental challenges and develop their own solutions, creating tangible impact through activities such as tree planting, community clean-up campaigns or waste management programs.
Green Hoops is expected to directly engage 472 learners, youth leaders, teachers, and facilitators across 14 schools and the Tongogara Basketball Club, while indirectly reaching approximately 2,000 community members through community events and outreach activities.
Central to the project is the principle of "Nothing About Refugees Without Refugees." Refugees have played an active role in identifying priorities and shaping the initiative and will continue to serve as leaders, facilitators, mentors, and decision-makers throughout implementation.
By bringing together basketball, climate action, and meaningful refugee participation, Green Hoops reflects the FIBA Foundation's commitment to using sport as a powerful tool for education, empowerment, and positive social change.
“We are grateful to the Olympic Refuge Foundation for supporting this initiative and excited to build on our long-standing partnership with Tambai Zimbabwe. Through Green Hoops, young people from refugee and host communities will use basketball as a platform to lead positive change and address environmental challenges in their communities,” said Theren Bullock Jr., Head of the FIBA Foundation.
Through the support of the Sport for Refugees Coalition and the Olympic Refuge Foundation, the project aims to build stronger, more resilient communities while empowering young people to become leaders both on and off the court.
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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.
FIBA