Location and general information
Access to Sport - 
Infrastructure and equipment - 
Personal developmentContext
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have the right to play and recreation. However, the conditions are not met everywhere for children to enjoy their rights. In Brazil, according to the Brazilian institute of geography and statistics, only 27% of public schools (2017) have sports facilities and 78% of children (2019) do less exercise than is recommended by the WHO.
The proposed project will be run in the Córrego da Fortuna community, a low-income settlement in Recife, where poor urban planning mirrors this lack of playgrounds and quality education. The aim is to mitigate this problem by creating opportunities for sport, education, arts, and psychological support. As many as 150 community volunteers between 16 and 60 years old will be recruited. The facility will serve as a community centre and a platform for activities by the university, presentations by local cultural groups, and a sport for education programme for 75 girls between 7 and 17 years old.
Project content
love.fútbol will promote a cross-sector partnership between the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife city hall, local programme partner Instituto Geração 4, and a broader range of community leaders and organisations to plan and build a football pitch that will serve as a sustainable platform for sports and educational sessions, a point of integration between the community and the local university, and a reference for municipal public policy.
The project methodology will follow what we call the ‘hardware x software’ model. At the grassroots level, love.fútbol will form partnerships with the broader target community. We will engage the key stakeholders (local government, parents, teachers, cultural groups and other youth advocates) to plan and develop safe and inclusive sports facilities (the hardware). At the organisational level, we will actively train and oversee a domestic organisation to deliver a sport for development programme (the software) that will focus on gender inclusion, English language classes and psychological support.
Objectives
- Use love.fútbol's award-winning methodology and its 15 years' experience in developing community-driven sports spaces to establish a football facility in a vulnerable community in the Brazilian Northeast
- Engage and empower the local community to build and take ownership of this space dedicated to sport and education
- Once the space is inaugurated, deliver two-weekly sports for education sessions for 75 children
- Partner with the city hall and the local university to keep the space safe and provide a daily schedule
Project activities
- Joint creation of a community-driven sports facility: love.fútbol will partner with several actors and the broader community through engagement meetings, the creation of a neighbourhood network, and two collective building days to create a facility that will offer children a platform for sports and education. This network will also be trained in the use of management tools to activate and sustain the pitch long-term
- Weekly sports sessions for 75 girls run by love.fútbol and local organisation Instituto Geração 4
- Football and Zumba classes run by Recife city hall
Expected results
- A 48x27m artificial turf sports court, including fences, LED lighting, sports equipment, community garden, and artworks
- 150 community volunteers recruited and trained who will donate 3,500 hours to the planning, delivery, activation and sustainability of the facility
- 75 girls taking part in a weekly sports programme, including English language classes, and psychological support, with the aim of doubling this number in the second year
- 1,500 local children using the space and doing in sports activities
Partner
