Lesotho, landlocked within the Republic of South Africa, is one of The FA’s partners under the ‘UEFA-CAF Meridian Project’ which brings together European national football associations with their counterparts in Africa.

As part of the partnership, Over the last seven years, The FA has helped the Lesotho FA (LEFA) develop football largely through coaching and referee instruction programmes.

This particular visit is unique as it is the first time that The FA’s International Development Programme has focused on girls’ football, attention to which, according to its Head of International Relations, Jane Bateman, is "long overdue".

“The programme for this visit is quite ambitious as, not only are we focusing on girls’ football development in a country where it is practically non-existent, but we are also integrating serious health messages into the delivery”, explained Bateman.

The FA is running a three-day workshop for LEFA, including girls’ football coaching in a local school. Three 17-year-old girls, who have been acclaimed the ‘best young leaders’ in The FA’s Young Leadership scheme organised in schools throughout England, will be in charge of this part of the visit.

They will teach primary school girls the basics of playing football and help older students to develop leadership skills, culminating in the organisation of a mini-festival of football at the end of their stay.

Lesotho is also one of many sub-Saharan African countries ravaged by the HIV virus which is conservatively thought to infect around a third of its population. Young girls are one of the most high-risk groups, so built into the school programme will be HIV awareness training. This will delivered by Kicking AIDS Out volunteers trained by the Maseru-based OlympAfrica Youth Ambassadors Programme (OYAP).

The OYAP programme focuses on empowering youth through sport. The programme is run by the Lesotho National Olympic Committee in cooperation with the Lesotho National Volunteer Commission and supported by Commonwealth Games Canada and UK Sport.

Using sport as the platform, it address issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS and family issues. By building the spirit of volunteerism in youth, OYAP hopes to create a stronger, community-minded adult Basotho population. OYAP’s participation in The FA’s event will be part-funded by Commonwealth Games Canada and UK Sport.

“We took three England team players to Malawi earlier this year – Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and David James – and the impact they had as footballers in terms of delivering HIV awareness messages was immense," added Bateman.

"This visit will continue to demonstrate how football has the power to engage young people - in this case, young girls - and help to drill home key messages about HIV prevention.”