PeacePlayers International South Africa

I was appointed as Executive Director of PeacePlayers South Africa, not as a professional outside hire, but as someone who grew up within the program. Thanks to this, I intimately understand the needs, wants and challenges of the communities we serve. I have used this understanding to make much-needed changes to the organization, including strengthening the leadership pipeline model, leading to 97% of our staff being program alumni, and shifting from primarily mon-communal programming to cross-community programs uniting youth from different racial and cultural backgrounds through basketball. 

While I know and understand the heart of our organization, I have had to learn many aspects of nonprofit management without formal training. I am proud of what I have been able to achieve on my own initiative, but there is a great deal that I can learn from the Elevate network in order to strengthen my capacity. I would greatly value access to these mentors and to further education in strategic planning and nonprofit management. Lastly, I am certain that the Elevate Prize will help amplify my voice and the PeacePlayers vision, inspiring more women in South Africa and around the world to become powerful leaders and advocates for change.

My name is Nasiphi “Nas” Khafu, I have been part of PeacePlayers South Africa since 2006, first as a participant, then a coach, a City Area Coordinator, as of 2017, the Executive Director.

As a teenager, I lost my grandmother, who raised me, and my mother. After my 5-year-old sister, 15-year-old brother and I were abandoned by the rest of our family, I was left to fend for myself. I felt like I was lost. Being on the basketball court with PeacePlayers, I felt like I had something. Life was tough, I didn’t have money, food, clothes, but PeacePlayers and sport became my family. They made me feel like I could be something.

When PeacePlayers hired me as a coach, I had just started playing basketball. I was good with kids and people, but I couldn’t coach. PeacePlayers believed in me and trained me. Just having people that believe even in you makes you excel, it pushes you to be better. 

I studied sport because I wanted to give back and to give opportunities to people that will never get them otherwise. I found basketball when I was 18. I want others to find great opportunities as early as possible.

Established in 2001, PeacePlayers South Africa (PP-SA) uses basketball as a tool to bridge divides, change perceptions and develop leaders among children and youth. 

PP-SA’s year-round core programming facilitates personal development, fostering positive relationships between people of diverse racial backgrounds, and equipping and inspiring youth to become leaders and mentors within their own communities.  

PP-SA is part of the global movement PeacePlayers, a network of local organizations that use sport to create a more peaceful and equitable world. 

Over the past 20 years, PeacePlayers has worked with 250,000 young people in 22 countries, with independent, locally-led sites in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, the Middle East, South Africa and the United States. Over the past two decades, PP-SA has reached 100,000 young people (ages 9 to 30), engaged with 35 communities and 65 schools, trained nearly 7,500 coaches, and employed over 5,000 coaches.  Our work continues to grow and our level of impact deepen; as we continue to navigate through evolving circumstances; providing a safe space for youth to become part of the positive social changes they wish to see in their societies.

In post-apartheid South Africa, racial groups remain largely divided, with the white minority, who live primarily in urban areas, holding the majority of resources and power. Many non-white communities, especially in rural areas and townships, live in poverty, lacking basic resources like running water, electricity, sanitation and secondary education. These asymmetries reinforce the racial divide, leaving the black majority more vulnerable to truancy, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDs – harsh realities that significantly impact life outcomes. 

Our programs provide a constructive outlet and positive role models to guide the long-term development of youth, and girls especially, who may otherwise not have access to extracurricular programs or sports leagues. 

Basketball is a powerful tool for teaching life and leadership skills and for bridging divides between people from different backgrounds. Ultimately, basketball helps level the playing field, mitigating gaps across racial divides, and giving youth, regardless of their background, the opportunity to thrive.  Our innovation lies in utilizing basketball as a neutral reconciliation tool to give youth not only a platform to build their capacity, but to give them a positive outlet to facilitate necessary discourse and their growth into becoming mentors within their own communities.

PeacePlayers provides a high calibre team sports experience and leadership opportunities for youth who have been systematically denied resources and the chance to succeed due to inequities that remain a major part of the post-apartheid legacy. Additionally, we are making extra strides to include women and girls, both as participants, and in leadership positions, creating role models of success.

The stark inequities make cohesion between South Africa’s diverse communities almost impossible. PeacePlayers combines equitable experiences with opportunities to interact with diverse youth who under normal circumstances, would never interact as equals. We are cultivating a critical mass of young people dedicated to creating a more equitable and unified society, where young people have the chance to succeed regardless of their race, gender or any other characteristic.

Our youth are part of a global movement for peace and equity in divided societies and take part in global leadership programs, where they meet youth from around the world and share solutions for a better future. One of these programs is the Leadership Academy, where our alumni work with PeacePlayers alumni around the world as activists for social change, throughout their studies and employment, receiving advocacy and professional development training in parallel.