Charles Obore
Managing Director, CBI Innovations Academy
Bold Question: What if girls used the power of football to thrive in life?
Pathway to Metis: Charles was born to a grade 1 dropout mother and raised during the turmoil of cattle rustling. He came up seeing 5 of his elder sisters unable to complete their primary school education. He joined Grade 1 with 100 friends in their rural primary school. He recalls studying under tree shades and learning to write on the soil due to a lack of educational materials. By the time they got to Grade 7, only 27 managed to sit for the promotional examination, with the rest dropping out. Of the 27 who sat for that examination, only 3 got into high school. Of the 3, Charles was the only one to join and graduate from University; after attaining a government scholarship. This start reinforced how important the role education would play in his life.
After graduating from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, He volunteered with Teach For Uganda. Leaving the comfort of the city to rural communities to work with rural primary schools to help these communities develop strategies to keep children at school and provide them with quality education. He was placed at Muwangi primary school and managed to increase the school enrolment from 37 children to 347 by the end of his 2-year fellowship. Utilizing the community’s integral love for football, we attracted children to school and connected the school to the community. He saw the power of sports, especially football, in influencing the educational outcomes of rural children.
With his background, experience and conviction in the potential of sport for good, he founded Communities Beyond Imaginations (CBI) Innovations Academy. CBI is a community-based organization that uses the power of sports (football) to attract, keep children at school, fight early marriages and provide accessible quality education to rural children. They currently have 242 participants. The majority, 160, are girls participating in our football program. CBI is currently working with 4 primary schools. 27 of our participants have received sports scholarships at high school and 4 of our girls are now playing professional club football in Uganda.
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