RWANDA Fellowship Program
Each year, Shooting Touch Rwanda (STR) selects three international Fellows who have the desire to give back using the game of basketball. Fellows live and serve in Shooting Touch Rwanda communities for a seven months, where they work alongside STR’s local coaching staff to facilitate year-round basketball programming, provide health education and services, and promote social change. Engaging with 1,200+ youth and 1,800+ women across six villages, Fellows embark on a cultural experience, create strong professional networks, build new skillsets, and develop an enhanced perspective of the world around them.
Explore the resources below to learn more about the Shooting Touch Rwanda Fellowship Program.
Applications for the 2025 Rwanda Fellowship Program have closed. For inquiries about future Fellowship opportunities, please contact Chloe Rothman at chloe@shootingtouch.com.
STR Fellowship "Day in the Life" (Matt Barr, 2018)
Watch the video above, featuring former Shooting Touch Rwanda (STR) Fellow Matt Barr, for a glimpse into the daily life of a Fellow living in rural Rwanda.
Program OVERVIEW
The Rwanda Fellowship Program is an amazing opportunity to educate and inspire youth and women using the power of basketball. Working alongside our bi-lingual coaching staff, international Fellows help to oversee programming across five basketball courts serving thousands of Rwandan beneficiaries, while working with local partner organizations to improve lives at the community level.
As a team, Fellows are responsible for a variety of tasks, including supporting local program staff with:
Organizing health awareness basketball tournaments
Teaching health educational sessions
Running seasonal basketball leagues
Training local coaches via clinics and workshops
Partnering with local organizations to provide health testing, mental health services, and gender equity trainings
Storytelling and promotion of STR programs
Not only do Fellows influence positive health and socio-cultural change within rural Rwandan villages, but they also become part of the robust sport-for-development community, with representatives from the NBA, FIBA, ESPN, Nike, Adidas, the International Olympic Committee, and many other organizations connected to basketball, philanthropy, and business around the world. Additionally, you will have opportunities to network with our global health and equity partners, including Partners in Health, Rwanda’s Ministry Health and Ministry of Gender, Paper Crown Rwanda, and Survivors Fund.
PROGRAM HISTORY
In 2010, the Shooting Touch Fellowship Program was established, granting young adults with the opportunity to travel abroad to expand the game of basketball and improve lives. In 2012, Shooting Touch put down program roots in Rwanda, a country that ranks 162 out of 207 on the Human Development Index (2014), and is still struggling to rebuild infrastructure and social capital shattered by the 1994 genocide. Over the past 10 years, fellows have constructed 7 courts, trained 40+ coaches and currently serve 1,200+ girls and boys and 1,800+ women in rural communities; the foundation of what has become the country’s first ever free youth basketball league for both boys and girls.
Today, the program is a 7-month international service fellowship in Rwanda, where fellows work with local STR coaches to identify and address community needs using the power of sport as a tool for mobilization. Shooting Touch Rwanda’s goal is to provide youth, women, and their communities with opportunities to live an active, happy, and healthy life, free from disease and abuse. In order for our sites to serve as more than just basketball courts, we also utilize these spaces to deliver collaborative programs alongside Shooting Touch’s network of local clinics, hospitals, social service providers, and community centers.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about Rwanda. Working as a fellow has changed my life. I grew as an individual and overcame obstacles I never thought possible. I now work for the NBA and can apply what I have learned with Shooting Touch to my everyday life.”
