The A Ganar Alliance

Led by Partners of the Americas, A Ganar (Vencer in Brazil) utilizes soccer and other team sports to help youth in Latin America and the Caribbean, ages 16-24, find jobs, learn entrepreneurial skills, or re-enter the formal education system. A Ganar combats the serious problem of youth unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean through the application of a four-phase integrated job training program in which youth transform lessons and intellectual skills, developed through sports, into marketable job skills.

A Ganar started as a three-country pilot program funded by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Ecuador, Uruguay, and Brazil that trained over 3,200 youth between 2005-2009. With additional support from the MIF, the Nike Foundation and USAID, the A Ganar Alliance plans to train over 5,400 more youth in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2012.

A Ganar is a highly innovative methodology that combines life skills, market-driven technical training, and sports.

Of the youth that have participated in A Ganar/Vencer, more than 70% have graduated from the program and the majority of the graduates have obtained jobs, returned to school, or started their own business within a year. The Alliance builds on Partners of the Americas’ 45 years of experience and contacts in the Western Hemisphere, which in conjunction with A Ganar not only opens doors of economic opportunity for youth through jobs, entrepreneurship, and education, but also ensures sustainability by building lasting partnerships between the public and private sectors.