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How AKHIN Street Football for Agripreneur is challenging stigma, creating livelihoods and redefining what justice looks like for young people navigating life on the street
On a dusty football pitch in Ibadan, Nigeria, the scene looks familiar. Young people move quickly, calling for passes and celebrating goals. But for participants of AKHIN Street Football for Agripreneur, stepping onto the field represents far more than play. It is a first step toward dignity, belonging and opportunity in a society where many have long been excluded.
Marked annually on February 20, the International Day of Social Justice highlights the systems and structures that shape inequality worldwide. While global conversations often focus on policy and institutions, AKHIN’s work offers a grounded reminder that social justice is also built in community spaces. It takes shape on streets, fields and farms where young people begin to reimagine what their futures can hold.
Across Nigeria, thousands of street-connected youth — young people who spend significant parts of their lives navigating street environments without stable support — face daily stigmatization, insecurity and limited access to education, employment and protection. For many, these barriers are reinforced not only by economic hardship but by perception. Labels follow them into classrooms, workplaces and public spaces, shaping how opportunity is distributed.
AKHIN, a Collective365 grantee of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub – a collaboration between the IOC, Beyond Sport and Women Win – is responding with a model that combines street football with agricultural training and entrepreneurship development. The project is bolstered by a collaboration with Zigstar Fresh Farms. AKHIN Founder Israel Balogun describes the approach as a response to interconnected challenges affecting both participants and the wider community: stigma towards young people navigating street environments, declining interest in agriculture among youth and growing unemployment.
Football serves as the bridge. It fosters trust and establishes routines grounded in teamwork and accountability. From there, participants transition into structured learning around agriculture and enterprise, developing skills that support both personal independence and local food systems.
Partnerships have also helped deepen this approach. Through the learnings gained from their collaboration with Zigstar, AKHIN has strengthened its agribusiness systems, creating additional learning opportunities that support participants as they move toward sustainable livelihoods.
At the social enterprise, participants are known simply as “AKHIN,” a term in Yoruba that reflects resilience, courage, fearlessness and independence. The name signifies a shift in perspective. Participants are not defined by the circumstances that brought them to the street, but by the strengths they carry and the futures they are working toward.
The organization’s approach extends beyond programming to the environment. They provide alternative, inclusive residential spaces where young people can access rehabilitation services, explore their interests and talents, reconnect with education or vocational pathways and gradually adapt to life within a supportive community. Within these spaces, daily rhythms begin to take shape. Football sessions, skills development and agricultural work create structure, while moments of reflection replace the instability of street life with possibility.
For many participants, football remains the critical entry point. Having experienced rejection from schools, families and institutions, their trust does not come easily. Football, however, offers a familiar and non-threatening space where relationships can begin.
The impact of that engagement becomes visible in subtle but powerful ways. When young people first arrive, many carry the weight of stigma. Some avoid eye contact. Others isolate themselves or express distrust. Over time, participating in football begins to reshape those dynamics.
Balogun has witnessed how the field can transform identity in real time.
“The moment they step onto the field, something changes. They are no longer ‘street children,’ they are teammates. They are players. They are valued,” he reflected. “In that moment, stigma fades. Confidence rises. Belonging replaces isolation.”
While these moments of inclusion are significant, the challenges facing participants extend well beyond individual confidence. Across institutions intended to support young people — schools, employers and community groups — stigma often limits access to opportunity and reinforces cycles of exclusion.
This reality was captured in a moment that deeply resonated with the AKHIN team when participant, “Moses Han,” shared:
“I am resilient. I am fearless. But I lack the opportunity and platform to express my potential.”
For Balogun, the statement crystallized a recurring pattern. Young people possess capability and determination, yet remain constrained by systems and perceptions that restrict access.
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