Canada Swahili Institute > University of Manitoba Partner with Swahili Canada
Canada Swahili Institute partners with University of Manitoba to provide Sports management scholarships to Kenya
The Canada Swahili Institute together with Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management of University of Manitoba (UoM) have unveiled a CAD 240,000 sports scholarship for high school students from Nandi County of Kenya to access University education at UoM leading to degrees in sports management. The award termed President’s Award for Mentoring Leadership Excellence through Sports (MILES) is an initiative of UoM President and Vice Chancellor, David Barnard, and arose from a Sport without Borders Program-a partnership involving researchers, practitioners and community groups in Kenya and Canada.
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Dr. Jeniffer Mactavish of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management of University of Manitoba gives a pep talk to primary school pupils of Terik, in Nandi County of Kenya. Dr. Mactavish is the lead coordinator of the Sports Without Borders Program | |
“This is a dream come true” says Dr. Maritim E. Songok of University of Manitoba who helped bring together the partners involved in the program “Kenya has a very high athletics potential that has yet to be adequately tapped to economically benefit rural communities where poverty levels are high and majority of talented athletes hail from. One drawback is that the country lacks well trained sports managers to harness this powerhouse. This scholarship program will tremendously contribute to Kenya’s quest to utilize sports as a vehicle for community development. For Canadians it will act as bridge to reach out and learn from Kenyans on how to excel in long and middle distance running”.
The scholarship program to begin in the 2011/2012 academic session will run for 12 years and awardees will be nominated by Terik Essential Programs Agency For Development (TEPAD), a community based organization in Nandi County of Kenya.