NextGen Ballers is a flagship youth reintegration and sports‑innovation project under the Cameroon Initiative for Research and Innovation (CIRI). Originally created as a football talent‑development program, NextGen Ballers has evolved into a social impact initiative focused on supporting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the North West and South West Regions, while remaining open to Francophone youth to promote national inclusion and cohesion.

The project uses football, education, psychosocial support, and skills development as tools to restore stability, confidence, and opportunity for displaced and vulnerable young people aged 10–18. Through sports‑based therapy and structured coaching, participants benefit from emotional healing, discipline building, teamwork, and positive identity formation. In partnership with Noble Sports Academy Douala, the project offers safe spaces for training, mentorship, and reintegration.

NextGen Ballers currently operates a Reintegration & Training Center in Douala and is establishing a Youth Incubation and Development Center in Bamenda, enabling the project to serve youths both in host communities and in their regions of origin. Over the past year, the project carried out five scouting and outreach missions in Bamenda and Douala, identifying 50 vulnerable and displaced youths who have since been integrated into the development pipeline.

The program incorporates research and innovation, collecting data on psychosocial wellbeing, physical development, educational progress, and social integration. These insights support CIRI’s mission to produce evidence‑based recommendations that strengthen youth support systems in Cameroon.

By engaging families, schools, social workers, community leaders, and health partners, NextGen Ballers promotes reintegration, resilience, peacebuilding, and long‑term youth empowerment. Through this model, CIRI positions the project as a national leader in humanitarian youth development, sports‑based reintegration, and research‑backed community transformation.