YES with Africa

YES with Africa (Youth Education and Sports) is a multiethnic, coeducational, sports and leadership development program administered in conjunction with the Department of Africana Studies and is currently based in the West African countries of Senegal and Benin .

In December 2006, Vice Chancellor Titus gave a presentation to the new President of Benin, President Yayi Boni, (a young man considered to embody the new breed of African leadership) and his staff in Washington DC. The presentation was about the YES Africa project in Contonou Benin.

The YES with Africa program is preparing proposals for submission to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Cultural Affairs, for possible support of exchanges between western African countries and the U.S., involving artists, arts management professionals, and civic leaders. An application has been submitted to the UMass Boston Healey Grant program and is pending. If funded, it will assist in expansion of the Division’s already extensive program of outreach to the local community.

In Niger, as in many other places in Africa and around the world, soccer is the most popular sport and little attention is given to developing talent in basketball and other athletic activities. The University of Massachusetts Boston has teamed up with several government and private-sector sponsors in a unique undertaking that they hope will change this situation—and do much more besides.

Yes for Africa is an innovative partnership that seeks to develop the athletic prowess of young people while expanding their educational and cultural horizons. Modeled on Niamey Hoops, a basketball camp begun in 1997 in the Nigerian town of Niamey, the program gives youngsters aged 7 to 19 the opportunity to acquire basketball skills while learning about computers and other technology, health issues, and their own cultural heritage.
So far Yes for Africa has enjoyed enormous success, owing largely to its focus on quality and to a high degree of cooperation among its sponsors. The program enjoys the backing of government agencies like the Ministry of Youth and National Solidarity of Niger, corporations like Coca-Cola and Air Afrique, and local organizations like the Basketball Federation of Niger.

UMass Boston's role is a big reason for the program’s excellent reputation. During the summer of 2000 Charlie Titus, athletic director at UMass Boston, joined the program as a coach, lecturer, instructor, and consultant. Then Jemadari Kamara, director of the Center for African Caribbean and Community Development at UMass Boston, came aboard. Both men feel strongly that the program can serve as an ambassador of the sport of basketball and of U.S. culture in general. And they believe that capacity building—the expansion of athletic, technical, educational, and entrepreneurial activities—is an essential part of its mission.

Yes for Africa has set a high standard of expectation. For the past two years, interest in the program has far outstripped capacity. In addition, the program has been adopted in other localities—during the summer of 2002, Senegal and Benin hosted Yes for Africa camps for the first time—and interest is continuing to grow.

The Yes for Africa initiative already fills an enormous void in opportunities for Niger's youth. And to ensure that the program has a long-term impact, UMass Boston and its other sponsors are prepared to commit even more resources not only to the primary aims of the program, but to highlighting broader cultural values shared by the United States and African nations.