Olympism365: 15 grassroots changemakers receive support to foster social development through sport

30 September 2025 – A total of 15 organisations and individuals today joined the Grassroots365 Innovation Incubation initiative, which is part of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub – a collaboration between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Beyond Sport and Women Win. The participants will be supported as they develop and test their ideas, which use sport to drive social development in their communities and advance the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By joining the programme, the 15 participants will embark on a six-month innovation journey to further develop their ideas into concrete proposals. As part of this process, they will have access to an education programme providing useful information on how to design ideas, mobilise resources to implement them, and measure the impact. The participants will also have the opportunity to learn from other innovators and peers within the Olympism365 Innovation Hub.

At the end of the process, they will be invited to apply for one of five USD 15,000 grants to pilot their innovations.

The Grassroots365 Innovation Incubation model is designed to connect innovators worldwide who are driving change at the hyper-local level, enabling them to share knowledge and expertise. This initiative reflects the IOC’s commitment, through the Olympism365 strategy, to harness the power of sport as a key enabler of the UN SDGs. It strengthens collaboration between the sports movement, the social development sector and purpose-driven businesses to build a better world through sport.

Meet the 15 Grassroots365 Incubators

• AirVitalize (USA), which is aiming to deploy its filterless mobile air purification systems on and around sports fields in Los Angeles.
• Aquability (Egypt), Egypt’s first safe, professional swimming academy, which offers people with disabilities programmes that promote health, confidence and inclusion.
• Free Movement Skateboarding (Greece), which creates inclusive opportunities for young people with disabilities through Skate-Able, an adaptive skateboarding and therapeutic arts programme.
• Gastro Forestry Project (Indonesia), which provides access to sports spaces in rural areas while also raising awareness about the importance of environmental stewardship.
• Hend Eldamaty (Germany), who is developing a culturally sensitive, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot designed to support Arabic-speaking migrant women in Germany.
• Join for Joy Zambia (Zambia), which aims to scale up its playful learning programme to enhance participation for children with disabilities.
• Leanda Taitt (Trinidad and Tobago), who is developing a series of sports-based programmes to help the over-50s, including people with disabilities, to keep active, connect with one another, and maintain or improve their mobility, balance, strength and physical conditioning.
• Lybotics (Libya), which run the STEM Sports League — a series of robotics competitions designed as team-based physical challenges that, in the spirit of sport, promote teamwork, resilience and leadership.
• OceanFolx (Indonesia), a swimming, surfing, sailing and conservation programme created with local Lombok women, which is aiming to develop a streamlined, tech-integrated curriculum to complement their in-water training.
• Sense the Game (Algeria), which is using football to drive inclusive development by training female coaches to deliver adaptive sports programmes for visually or hearing-impaired children.
• SheFighter (Jordan), which provides a train-the-trainers programme for women in rural areas, equipping them with essential self-defence skills and leadership tools.
• Somali Relief and Development Organisation (Somalia), which is using sport to advance sustainability, youth leadership and social inclusion through its Youth Eco-Sports Innovation Initiative, transforming underutilised community spaces into Eco-Sports Green Hubs embedded with sport-based environmental learning.
• Sports Initiative for Girls with Disabilities Rwanda (Rwanda), which is aiming to promote inclusive sports and disability rights by supporting 150 out-of-school indigenous girls and young women with disabilities through its Sitting Volleyball for Change programme.
• Young Achievement Sports for Development (YASD) (Zimbabwe), which is developing Drug Resistance Education and Mentorship through Sports (DREAMS), a youth-centred initiative integrating life skills and drug prevention education into communities through counselling, football, and skills and vocational training.
• Youth and Women for Opportunities Uganda (Uganda), which is blending football with environmental education through its Green Goal initiative – transforming local football fields into Green Play Zones, where sport and sustainability meet.

“Real, measurable impact”

“I am happy to be joining the Grassroots365 Innovation Incubation programme,” said Pearl Gambiza from YASD in Zimbabwe. “I hope to gain the skills to transform my initiative from an idea into a sustainable, impactful and scalable grassroots initiative – and I am eager to share my passion for sport for sustainable development with like-minded people.”

Repa Kustipia from Indonesia’s Gastro Forestry Project paid tribute to the potential for international collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the Grassroots365 Innovation Incubation programme:

“I believe that positive social bonds formed through sportsmanship are the foundation for any economic or commercial growth in rural sports initiatives. If that foundation is strong, then scaling can follow – with real, measurable impact.”

About the Olympism365 Innovation Hub

The Grasroots365 programme is part of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub initiative, which is supporting a diverse community of innovators leading new and impactful approaches to sport for sustainable development. The Hub is a collaboration between the IOC and two non-governmental organisations, Beyond Sport and Women Win.

In addition to the Grassroots365 programme, the Olympism365 Innovation Hub’s initiatives include:

• Ignite365 Awards, five grants of USD 10,000 that were awarded in August 2024 to community projects that are advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
• Enterprise365 Grants, with total funding of USD 300,000 awarded in November 2024 to nine social enterprises working on sport-for-social-development projects.
• Collective365 Grants, a total of USD 470,000 provided in February 2025 to 13 collaborations between sports and non-sports organisations.
• Tech365, a two-stage programme supporting the use of emerging technologies to accelerate sport’s contribution to sustainable development, which launched in March 2025 with the Tech365 Explore think tank before announcing six Tech365 Incubate grants worth up to USD 40,000 in September 2025.

More information about Olympism365, the IOC’s strategy to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler for the UN SDGs, can be found here.