Building Trust Through Soccer: Our Partnership with Grassroot Soccer
In fall 2025, Riza piloted our tools with an incredible group of 20 Grassroot Soccer coaches in Zimbabwe.
Grassroot Soccer is an adolescent health organization that harnesses the power of soccer to equip young people worldwide with life-saving information, services, and mentorship.
During our pilot, we focused on Riza's intention feature. Our three agreements were simple:
Be honest;
Use Riza to make yourself, your team, and Riza better; and
Have fun.
What the Coaches Said
We accomplished all of that, and the coaches have been incredibly generous with their feedback. Winfrey Gumede said, "I love the Riza build. I'm able to see in real time friends that continue to my intention. Thank you Riza team!"
Beauty Moto shared her perspective that "Riza is a great app! It allows me to set challenges for myself. I have a beautiful idea and am greatly looking forward to my team members supporting me to achieve it."
Patrick Sibanda said this: Before using Riza I would talk about doing something but not achieve it. But Riza asks me to check in. And I receive support from other coaches. This keeps me going even when I want to quit. Snaps for Riza: 🫰🏿🫰🏿🫰🏿"
Learning and Building Together
We're grateful for the team's perseverance and positivity as they used Riza in beta, helping us understand how to build the best possible app for mentors and coaches. The coaches' requests echo what we've heard from Friends of the Children mentors: strengthen the Android version to match iOS; add in-app chat; centralize content in an accessible portfolio; and incorporate videos. They've also shown us specific ways to improve the intention feature's flow and accessibility. We're committed to listening to our wise early adopters and excited to deliver on many of their requests.
Grassroot Soccer coaches aren't traditional soccer coaches—they're near-peer mentors young people can relate to, making learning about difficult health topics fun and engaging.
In a recent article about GRS' work with women, Mwitwa, a Grassroot Soccer coach, was asked, "Why soccer?" She explained, "Firstly, it's a sport that is loved globally and watched across the world. At the same time, a soccer ball is not so strange to a young person. It can easily be bought cheaply from a shop or made in a community from plastics or sacks."
Why This Partnership Matters
Grassroot Soccer focuses on adolescents because while global mortality rates have declined, the decline has been much slower for this age group than for younger children. Adolescents also tend to engage in riskier behaviors and are less likely to consider consequences. Riza is committed to supporting coaches like those at GRS who are on the front lines, addressing these risks through the power of relationships. The proven GRS model has inspired us, and the people behind it are some of the most positive and proactive we've met. Thank you, GRS, for allowing Riza to learn alongside and from you!
To learn more about how Grassroot Soccer is saving girls' lives through soccer, read this Global Citizen article.