Location and general information
Access to Sport - 
Gender Equality - 
Strengthening partnershipsContext
According to Eurochild, 33.9% of children in Bulgaria and 41.5% of children in Romania live in poverty or are at risk of social exclusion – those figures equate to around 400,000 and 1.5 million children respectively. The figures are equally alarming in Kosovo, which has the youngest population in Europe: UNICEF found that 23% of children there grow up in poverty and 7% live in extreme poverty. These circumstances not only affect their day-to-day quality of life but also reduce their chances of getting a good education and therefore their career prospects and likelihood of a healthy adult life. Marginalised communities suffer education inequality and high school-dropout rates, limited access to public services and leisure activities, health challenges owing to poor nutrition, hygiene and a lack of exercise as well as stereotypes and systemic discrimination, which perpetuate poverty.
Project goals
- Provide equal access to sports opportunities for marginalised children from Roma, poverty-stricken and rural communities
- Help participants to develop soft skills such as teamwork, discipline and communication to prepare them for further education or training and improve their long-term employability
- Enhance local capacities, combat gender and cultural stereotypes and build knowledge and strategies to increase girls’ participation in sport
- Encourage consistent and continued school attendance among project participants
- Promote proper nutrition, hygiene and fitness and facilitate access to regular nursing and psychological care
Project content
- Visit to youth football projects and a professional football academy in Vienna for seven social practitioners from CONCORDIA Bulgaria, Romania and Kosovo, enabling them to gain expertise in age-specific and gender-inclusive coaching
- A half-day training course for those practitioners on inclusive football practices for disadvantaged children and youth and the project’s experience in Bulgaria
- Weekly football training for 30 children in Romania, 30 in Kosovo and 50 in Bulgaria, in cooperation with local schools to promote regular school attendance
- Construction of a football fence near CONCORDIA’s Tranzit Centre in Prizren, Kosovo, serving the local community
- Community sports festivals and other outreach activities to overcome stereotypes and other concerns that might prevent children, especially girls, to play football
- Team-building activities led by social workers, trainers or volunteers
- An International Summer Sports Camp in Bulgaria, bringing together 45 young people from Kosovo, Romania and Bulgaria for several days of team sports and other inclusive games, fostering intercultural exchange, healthy competition and the joy of physical activity
Partner
