Skateistan – Education through skateboarding

• Skateistan was kickstarted in 2007 by the Australian Oliver Percovich during a stay in Kabul, Afghanistan. Oliver had always taken his skateboard with him on trips. Having arrived in Kabul, he was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the children and young people in Afghanistan and soon realized the potential to use skateboarding to reach out to children in the streets, with a view to teach life skills, boost gender equality and help (re-)entering school.
• With its three skate schools in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Bamyan in Afghanistan and others in Cambodia and South Africa, Skateistan is now a high-impact organisation. Skateistan shows what powerful levers sport and community can be to empower children and young people and to teach them values such as tolerance, fairness, and gender equality even under the most difficult conditions.
• Skateistan runs five programmes within their skate schools for children aged 5-17: Outreach, Dropping In, Skate and Create, Back to School, and Youth Leadership. These programmes combine life skills with fun, freedom, and creativity to create leaders for a better world.
• Skateistan also runs the Goodpush Alliance, a global platform that supports other social skateboarding projects worldwide to reach their full potential. It networks projects in more than 50 countries worldwide.

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