Location and general information
Conflict victims - 
Personal developmentContext
Around 11% of Austria’s 15 to 24-year-olds are neither in training nor employed, otherwise known as NEET (not in employment, education or training). Most of these young people have a migration or refugee background.
In the years 2016 and 2017, around 60,000 refugees requested asylum in Austria. Around 40% of them were female. Those wishing to enter the Austrian education system may have to wait months or even years before they can do so.
Young people caught up in this kind of situation very often lack self-confidence, motivation, self-discipline, family support, and indeed the soft skills required to manage their re-entry into the education system and start working towards a career.
Project content
Kicken ohne Grenzen’s mission is to use the unifying power of football to help young people from disadvantaged communities integrate sustainably and equitably into society. Football here is seen as a tool and a common language that can be used to discover and develop skills and potential that can be transferred into everyday life and applied in practice.
Kicken ohne Grenzen is member of the streetfootballworld and Fare (Football against Racism in Europe) networks, as well as being part of the Transparent Civil Society Initiative set up by Transparency International in Germany.
The UEFA Foundation is supporting Kicken ohne Grenzen's project "Football Without Borders" for the second year in a row.
Objectives
Fussball+ will help young people from disadvantaged communities to develop social and professional skills and improve their chances of entering the education system or getting a job. In doing so, the project promotes equal opportunities and sustainable social integration.
The training sessions are aimed at young people who are hard to reach through conventional training programmes, especially asylum seekers and refugees.
Project activities
Fussball+ is a programme of weekly football training sessions that has no performance-related admission criteria and uses specific exercises to train soft skills such as self-confidence, teamwork and decision-making.
Through Fussball+ and its Job Goals programme, Kicken ohne Grenzen organises:
- workshops on topics such as gender equality, team-building, conflict resolution, communication and practical football skills;
- weekly football training sessions in four different teams, using specific exercises to teach skills young people need to successfully embark on training or employment;
- CV sessions, a ‘learning buddy’ scheme and vocational training days;
- a football tournament involving 24 mixed teams and a football3 workshop for children.
Kicken ohne Grenzen also works on joint projects with partner organisations:
- to implement the ‘Kick it but fair’ fair play training manual in AMANDLA EduFootball coaching sessions;
- to develop a toolkit to increase youth employability through sport, as part of Scoring for the Future, a project funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme and eight partner institutions in Europe.
Expected results
- 200 people taking part in the programme between January and December 2020
- All participants from migrant or refugee backgrounds, and 50% of them female
- 25 certified skills coaches trained through Kicken ohne Grenzen’s own #BeASkillCoach Academy by December 2020
- 300 participants in the annual Kicken ohne Grenzen tournament, promoting gender equality and social inclusion
Partner
