The local NGO, The Little Optimist Trust, has received a major boost thanks to being awarded funding by the International Olympic Committee.
Cape Town, South Africa (15 August 2024) – Hot on the heels of South Africa’s successes at the Paris Olympic Games, it has just been announced that a South African NGO has been awarded a prestigious grant from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) worth 26,000 Euros.
The Little Optimist Trust, a Cape Town-based organisation, has been chosen as a Laureate for the prestigious Sustained insight and Impact Initiative, a programme that was launched in collaboration with the IOC to sustain and scale the social impact legacy of the 2024 Paris Olympics and Para-Olympic games.
The Trust’s sailing therapy programme has been identified as a project with great potential to help build a better world through sport.
Over the past three years, The Little Optimist Sailing Therapy Academy has produced a ground-breaking impact via its programmes, which use sailing as a positive mental-health intervention. More than 1000 youngsters have had access, opportunity, education and therapeutic intervention via this sailing therapy. Research on the impact of The Little Optimist’s work has been carried out by experts from the African sport ecosystem, La Guilde and students at Amsterdam University.
In 2021, The Little Optimist Trust won one of only nine grants offered by IMPACT 2024 Paris Olympics – the only South African NPO to be declared a winner.
The new award and funding will help sustain the organisation’s programmes and scale the Sailing Therapy Academy.
“The news is a huge honour and will allow us to expand our reach as it will enable the set up of multiple sites in South Africa, and will allow for the development and piloting of further multi-day programmes,” says The Little Optimist Trust founder Greg Bertish.
The Little Optimist Trust’s work is also being recognised in the USA . Bertish has just returned from a trip to the country, where he was invited to speak at and host workshops at some of the most prestigious yacht clubs and community sailing centres. Without long-term local support from Two Ocean Marine, Ullman Sails, Italtile and Southernwind Shipyard, the Trust would not have been able to achieve these heights.
For more information or to support or sponsor the Academy or programmes, please reach out to the trust www.thelittleoptimisttrust.org. To find out more about the organisation’s work and details about sailing lessons, talks and collaboration opportunities, visit www.optimistsailingacademy.org
by 