Skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth

Great news – with your help, we raised €600 so three youngsters in Cambodia can get skateboarding lessons and arts education for six months!

Since Skateistan began their work in 2007 they’ve brought together youth of all ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Skateistan began as a grassroots ‘Sport for Development’ project on the streets of Kabul in 2007, and is now an award-winning, international non-governmental organization with projects in Afghanistan and Cambodia. They use skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth, whereby skateboarding is simply “the hook” for engaging with hard-to-reach kids. Skateistan’s development aid programs work with growing numbers of marginalized youth, and provide them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment programs.

In Cambodia, Skateistan’s participants include over 40% female students, streetworking children, and nearly 20% have disabilities. During the skateboarding lessons and in the classrooms, they develop skills in leadership, civic responsibility, multimedia, and creative arts, exploring topics such as environmental health, culture, natural resources and peace. The students themselves decide what they want to learn – and Skateistan then connects them with a safe space and opportunities for them to develop the skills that they themselves consider important.