Street Football Move

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Portugal
Start date 12/01/2019
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project € 106,186
Foundation funding € 70,000
Project identifier 2019346
Partners Associacao de Futebol de Bragança
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

In a recent past the first contact of children with physical activity, sport in general and particularly football was made in the streets. It doesn’t matter if you lived in a big city, a small town or a village, all the children used to go play outdoors.

It was on the street that, for millions of children, the passion for football, for sport and for movement really started to flourish.

Today we have a problem, especially in large cities, the absence of free spaces, traffic, increased violence, the reduction of children's free time and all the existing comfort (for example with television, internet and all digital technology), among other factors, seem to have condemned  the street football and the play in the street to the extinction.

On March 21st2018, the European Commission published the "Special Eurobarometer 472 on Sport Physical Activity" (with data collected in December 2017). In this study it is verified that in Portugal 68% of the population never exercise or play sports, and this percentage increased in relation to the data of 2013 in 4%. Globally, in the European Union of 28 countries there is a tendency to continue to increase the number of people who never exercise or play sports, in 2009 the figure was 39% and in 2018 the figure was 46%.

In this context, Associação de Futebol de Bragança have the responsibility of help children to access more easily to sports and we should take street football events for free to children and young people in our region.

Project content

The name of the project is "Street Football Move" means that as participant you must move and be active. The name also means that street football can be a "Movement" that can help in the fight against the sedentary lifestyles and obesity in children.

The project will take the street football in a van to the children of 12 municipalities in the northeast region of Portugal (Bragança District has a total of 4 cities, 12 small towns and 533 villages). The van will be a very important element of this project because it will be totally decorated with the name of the project, logos and images of street football. The van will have inside sport equipment like small goals, balls, markers, roller-ups and t-shirts for the players and a sound system to entertain during the matches.

To attract more and more children, we will install in the van an eSports console, with only two controllers, for the children that will be waiting for his turn to play street football, the video game in the console will be FIFA 20.

Objectives

The main goal of the project it’s to give to the children in our region a better access to sport, to move more, to be more active, to have more fun, to develop better social skills and to prevent health problems. This is also a great way of promoting physical activity, promoting football and help in children’s education using sport as a tool.

Project activities

According with a plan and a schedule organized in collaboration with municipalities and local schools, we will travel to all cities and small towns in the region and we will park the “street football van” in a very specific spot in this towns, it can be in the town centre, city park, near historical places or other previous defined place. The project team staff will prepare the place for the street football matches, prepare all the equipment (goals, balls, t-shirts, water bottles, bibs for the teams) and prepare the various playing fields and the music for the events. With the help of local football and futsal clubs’ staff, our team will organise and supervise the street football matches.

The children will came from the local schools and they will play 10 minutes matches, in teams one against the others according with the age group (Under-7, Under-11, and Under-15) if possible, all teams should have boys and girls playing together. The results of the matches don’t count for any championship or classification table.

All the participants will receive a “Street Football Move” project t-shirt and they can use the project steel bottles to drink water during the events. We will have also a video game console and a TV installed in the van to be used by the children and youth that will be waiting for their turn to play street football. They will be allowed to play a 10 minutes match in the PlayStation, in the FIFA 20 videogame in the 1 vs. 1 mode, they only can play standing and they only can play one time for each local event.

  • Street football and physical activity
  • eSports
  • Fun and entertainment
  • “Street Football Move” project gifts

Expected results

We expect to reach a total of 10 000 participants under 15 years old from the 12 municipalities of our region.

Partner

Play to Learn 2.0

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Nicaragua
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 74,695
Foundation funding € 50,000
Project identifier 2019899
Partners Fondation Fabretto Children
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Nicaragua continues to face significant development challenges, including precarious employment and persistent poverty. Many families are struggling to make ends meet and provide food and basic necessities for their children. This affects the socio-emotional well-being of children who suffer from chronic stress, resulting in irritability, anxiety, headaches, and difficulty concentrating.

In addition, Nicaraguan children, especially in rural communities, still face limited access to quality education. Those that do attend school, receive just four hours of classes per day for four days per week.

To support these populations in education and offer them relevant extracurricular activities, the Fabretto Children’s Foundation set up the Play to Learn project, funded by the UEFA Foundation for Children in 2019. By providing organised team sports activities for girls and boys, Fabretto has found a valuable way to enrich the afterschool programme with more emphasis on sports for childhood development and gender inclusion. Physical activities during childhood have a positive effect on mental health in adolescence and later in life.

 

Project content

The foundation’s contribution enables Fabretto to further develop meaningful extracurricular activities in some of the most vulnerable communities in Nicaragua. Fabretto focuses on linking education to sports and recreational activities, especially by training children's football teams in rural communities.

Since the project is run in the Fabretto Education Centres and in the participating schools, capacities are built directly within the communities, creating a lasting impact with educators and sports coaches better equipped for the next generations of pupils.

Objectives

The objectives of the Play to Learn 2.0 project are:

  • extend the programme to 780 students in vulnerable communities with educational enrichment and/or leisure activities for the duration of the project;
  • increase the participation of girls and young women in sports and recreational activities in order to reduce traditional assumptions and stereotypes about roles, and thereby promote gender equality;
  • bridge the gender gap through activities shared by girls and boys, and to include boys and men in the process;
  • train teachers and coaches how to promote active learning through play and student engagement;
  • involve parents in workshops to raise awareness of the importance of education and physical activity.

Project activities

  • Regular – weekly or bi-weekly – football training sessions led by trained coaches.
  • Each session includes a short literacy activity, warm-up, technical practice, and stretching or cool-down exercises.
  • Sports activities are used to instil values of fairness and competition, while fostering a sense of belonging and team spirit, helping students to develop their social and soft skills. The overall goal is to reduce stress and anxiety and to improve the overall mental health of children in extremely vulnerable rural communities.
  • Fabretto also uses team sports to help students overcome negative thoughts and high levels of anxiety and stress so that they become more relaxed, improve their mental health and overall achieve better learning results.
  • Timid and anxious children enrolled in the afterschool programme, who might not naturally join a sports team, are encouraged to take part in the football practice. This has become an effective way to reach some of the children most in need of social interaction and developing social skills.

Expected results

  • The Fabretto Children’s Foundation will provide 780 children with educational and recreational activities; 550 students will join football teams.
  • The project aims to promote gender equality by increasing the participation of girls in sport and combating traditional gender role assumptions and stereotypes.
  • Teachers and sports coaches will be trained to play the critical role of leading activities and guiding the pupils through the learning process.
  • Parent workshops will raise awareness of the importance of education and physical activities.
  • Children will be better educated and become more confident, integrated members of society, with a greater chance of a positive socio-economic future.
  • The institutionalisation of safe environments for sports and play in each community will foster healthy, safe communities enabling children to learn and grow

Partner

Senior Leaders Programme

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Pennsylvania (United States)
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 258,056
Foundation funding € 44,829
Project identifier 2019938
Partners Starfinder Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate of the ten largest cities in the United States: 37% of children there live in poverty and struggle with underperforming schools, poor diets, unsafe communities and other barriers to success. This entrenched poverty has a long-term impact: Philadelphia ranks last among all Pennsylvania counties on health outcomes and only 67% of Philadelphia public high-school students graduate on time. Less than 20% of those graduates obtain a college degree within six years. Educational attainment is directly linked to social mobility — without a college degree or vocational training, low-income youngsters have little chance of escaping poverty.

Project content

Sports can help to address the problems faced by youngsters in places such as Philadelphia. Young people who participate in athletics are healthier, less likely to be obese and more successful academically, as they are better able to concentrate and behave and therefore complete high school and attend college (Up2Us Sports). Teenage girls who play sport are less likely to smoke, use illicit drugs or suffer from depression, and have a lower risk of osteoporosis and breast cancer later in life (Women’s Sports Foundation). Sports also provide youngsters with caring adult mentors and help them learn critical life skills. Mentored young people tend to have more ambitious goals and attain a higher level of academic achievement.

However, access is a problem. Philadelphia’s low-income young people have fewer opportunities at school, in recreational programmes and in their neighbourhoods, which often lack safe places to play. Low-income students participate less in sports than their middle-income peers, and 37% of low-income youngsters have no mentors in their lives. In the United States, 60% of children who play sport have to pay fees. Low-income youngsters simply cannot afford to participate. Girls especially face barriers to participation in sport owing to a lack of opportunities and role models, and negative societal pressure. The Starfinder Foundation exists to fill these gaps and help children and young people achieve their full potential.

Objectives

Starfinder’s Senior Leaders Program focuses on young people (aged 14 to 18 years) from low-income and underserved Philadelphia neighbourhoods. This intensive after-school programme combines football training with health and fitness promotion, academic support and leadership development in order to help participants achieve success both on and off the field.

The aim of the programme is to help young people develop critical personal and leadership skills that will help them become successful, healthy adults. Football is a great vehicle for both engaging and supporting youngsters to this end.

 

Project activities

  • Football training
  • Leadership development
  • Academic support
  • “Focus Fuel” fitness sessions
  • Mentoring

Starfinder’s leadership curriculum uses football as a framework to help young people develop specific life and leadership skills. The curriculum is organised into different sections: self, interpersonal, team and community. Leadership topics covered in formal weekly sessions are then reinforced and put into practice with coach-mentors in weekly ‘Focus Fuel’ fitness sessions and at football practice. ‘Team Time’ at the end of every practice gives participants an opportunity to reflect on their application of the weekly leadership topic and helps them to make connections between what they are doing on and off the field.

 

Expected results

Operational goals include:

  • building long-term financial health through effective revenue generation and fiscal management;
  • increasing public awareness of and support for Starfinder’s mission, impact and reputation for excellence;
  • upgrading Starfinder’s facilities; and
  • increasing organisational resilience with effective operating practices and a highly qualified, motivated workforce.

The Senior Leaders Program serves 120 high-school students each year, primarily from low-income neighbourhoods in Philadelphia with low to average household incomes. The majority of participants have little or no access to safe and healthy development opportunities, including quality sports programmes or safe spaces to play within their schools and neighbourhoods. The goal is to equip this very diverse group of young people, almost 50% of whom are female, with the above-mentioned tools to help them to better develop their health and physical fitness, emotional well-being and life and leadership skills. Since its establishment, Starfinder has provided services to over 11,000 young people, with its graduating seniors achieving a 100% high-school graduation rate and 91% college matriculation rate in a city where over 30% of kids drop out of high school.

Partner

Afterschool programme

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Mexico
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 295,171
Foundation funding € 88,235
Project identifier 2019399
Partners Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense (FECHAC)
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico, with over 3.5 million inhabitants. Most of the population are aged 5 to 14 years old and in need of basic education.

Social, health and education conditions

According to the multidimensional poverty measurement conducted by CONEVAL, the national board of social development, evaluation 30% of the population of Chihuahua lives in poverty:

  • 40% have no access to social security.
  • 18% lack access to proper nutrition, but children also suffer from obesity and high rates of diabetes. According to the national institute for public health, within the urban population of the state, 13% of children under five are overweight or obese.
  • 50% of children and teenagers have not engaged in any physical activity over the past 12 months.
  • Chihuahua is in a climate of insecurity, and has one of the highest crime rates due to its strategic border position.
  • More than 30% of the state’s population are illiterate and did not finish elementary or secondary school.

The afterschool programme was created by FECHAC and it is run by different organisations around the state to provides vulnerable children with tools to deal with life situations in a resilient way and motivate them to continue with their studies, by means of fun and formative evening activities that promote their cultural, social and physical development, in a variety of workshops.

Project content

The sports component serves two main purposes: gain physical benefits and exploit the formative role of the sport.

The project focuses on poor school retention, high rates of domestic violence, high rates of sexual abuse and social exclusion. The project’s goal is also to prevent violence. By practising sport, children and teenagers learn rules and discipline and come to realise that there are other life options for them than the drug business.

Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense (FECHAC) currently runs the programme in 88 schools and aims to expand it to 100 schools in next two years.

Objectives

Introduce basketball, football and handball programmes in seven schools throughout Chihuahua state: 2 schools in Ciudad Juarez, 2 schools in Chihuahua city, 1 school in Camargo, 1 school in Delicias and 1 school in Cuauhtémoc.

The sports component aims to:

  • create the habit of daily exercise and generate a lifestyle change;
  • improve body functioning and balanced mental health;
  • prevent conditions such as obesity and improve body coordination and control;
  • enhance confidence through tournaments and leagues, promote universal values and appropriate social behavior, model positive social relationships and teamwork.

Expected results

Expand the programme from 88 to 100 schools in the next two years.

For the participants

  • increased self-confidence and reduced risk of gender-based violence
  • lower drug abuse rates
  • extracurricular activities
  • safe environment for children

Partner

SCORING GIRLS

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Germany
Start date 03/01/2020
End date 02/28/2021
Cost of the project € 195,456
Foundation funding € 15,000
Project identifier 2019822
Partners HAWAR.help e.V.
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

Girls with migration backgrounds in Germany face additional challenges in navigating the path to adulthood and becoming productive and engaged citizens. Many are caught between cultures, where they must forge a new identity in order to find their way in their social environments. This path can be especially difficult to navigate for girls, many of whom come from patriarchal societies with strict family structures.

Education, contact with peers, and play are the basis of physical well-being and the positive social development of children. Sport not only enables girls to be healthy but also develop important life skills, such as leadership, communication, conflict resolution, confidence and teamwork. Girls from migrant, refugee, and socially disadvantaged backgrounds are often excluded from taking part in organised sports activities because of financial and cultural constraints. SCORING GIRLS Bildung uses the world’s most popular sport, football, as a springboard for integration and empowerment of disadvantaged and refugee girls in Germany.

Project content

Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Yazidi girls playing football together? That is integration. That is SCORING GIRLS Bildung. Implemented in Cologne and Berlin, SCORING GIRLS Bildung uses football as a tool to empower refugee, migrant, and underprivileged girls. The project fosters healthy personal and social development by nurturing the girls’ self- confidence, intercultural awareness, and sense of independence and responsibility towards their teammates – skills that are essential in life and in becoming a responsible citizen. To watch a project video on SCORING GIRLS Bildung, please click here:

Founded in 2016 by former Bundesliga player Tuğba Tekkal, SCORING GIRLS Bildung safeguards the fundamental rights of its participants, regardless of their country of origin or how they came to Germany. Since 2016, SCORING GIRLS Bildung has gained accolades from across Germany, highlighted by the CIVIS Medien Preis in 2019 and a visit to the programme by Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2017, when she highlighted the integrative power of the project and the effective use of sport as a informal education tool.

Objectives

  • Empower girls with life skills such as self-confidence, teamwork, conflict resolution, fairness, reliability and intercultural understanding.
  • Guide girls to find their talents and strengths, so that they can successfully take the next step into either the labour market or furthering their education.
  • Strengthen the girls’ leadership qualities, so that they are able to play an active role society and be fully engaged citizens.
  • Media coverage: 1,000,000 people become aware of the project through newspaper articles and social media.

Project activities

SCORING GIRLS Bildung is a holistic sport-based integration and empowerment programme for 120 refugee, migrant and German girls in Cologne and Berlin. Each week throughout the year, the participants take part in football training sessions, educational support, and soft-skill development.

Activity 1: Participant outreach and relationship building

Trusting relationships with the girls and their families are a prerequisite for engaging girls who would otherwise not take part in athletic activities. The project begins with HAWAR.help social workers entering refugee and underprivileged communities to build relationships with the girls’ parents. Over multiple visits and conversations, families are convinced of the benefits of their daughters’ participating in SCORING GIRLS Bildung. Once the girls start the programme, relationships with family members continue to be an important aspect, with the trainers giving the families periodic updates on the girls’ well-being.

Activity 2: Weekly football-based educational programme

Bi-weekly training sessions are held for 120 girls between the ages of 12 and 25 in Berlin and Cologne. A typical session opens with a group discussion in which the girls share important events in their lives and talk about what is going on at school. This gives the trainer and project manager the opportunity to see whether any of the girls need additional support and to identify themes that can be used for future training sessions. The girls then take part in football drills where they learn to follow instructions and to communicate with one another. Drills that incorporate the learning of German and school subjects such as maths are also used. Each training session concludes with a short practice game and a review of the session.

Activity 3: Educational support
After the football-based activity, individual support is provided to the girls as need. The participants receive help with their homework and school projects. The girls’ families can also ask for help with booking appointments with a doctor, a legal advisor or at the visa office.

Activity 4: Community building and integration activities

To strengthen the bonds between the girls and to expose them to different aspects of German society, excursions and workshops are carried out. Each excursion includes an educational element and gives the girls the opportunity to have fun as a group in a new environment.

Activity 5: Annual SCORING GIRLS Bildung tournament

Each year, the SCORING GIRLS Bildung tournament brings the group together with more than 300 community members, for a day of inter-cultural exchange, activities and fun. Prominent personalities have attended the event in the past, including German TV moderator Anne Will.

Expected results

  • Beneficiaries received training in various topics: self-confidence, teamwork, conflict resolution, fairness, reliability and intercultural understanding (activities 1, 2, 4)
  • Beneficiaries received meaningful educational support (activity 3)
  • Beneficiaries’ leadership qualities are strengthened (activity 2)
  • 1,000,000 people become aware of the project

Partner

Social-sports schools in Europe

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Romania, Italy, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain
Start date 10/01/2020
End date 06/30/2022
Cost of the project € 200,000
Foundation funding €more than 50% financed by the Foundation for Children
Project identifier 2019360
Partners Real Madrid Foundation (RMF)
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

The social-sports schools programme is aimed at children (mixed teams of boys and girls) aged 5 to 18 in Europe who are in difficult socio economical situations, likely to interrupt their education for reasons of poverty and the lack of learning opportunities, or face various risks or behavioural problems. The RMF works in more than 100 countries, in this specific case, the focus is on European social-sports schools in five different countries: Romania, Italy, United Kingdom, Portugal and 14 social-sports schools in shelter homes in Madrid (Spain).

The theme of marginalization is common to all the European locations running the social-sports schools programme. The beneficiaries are vulnerable families, children in difficult socio-economic situations and with poor education prospects, teenagers with youth distress problems, minority groups, children at risk of social exclusion, victims of violence and children living in shelters.

 

Project content

The RMF develops Real Madrid FC’s social and cultural awareness programmes. It has been applying the principle of teaching values through sports since 1998. RMF contributes to the holistic development of the beneficiaries by means of sports and socio-educational activities adapted to their needs, such as: promoting afterschool activities; seminars raising awareness about education, gender equality or other issues; language classes; check-ups; psychological counselling; and supplementary nutrition.

Objectives

The main objective is to promote the values inherent in sport, both in Spain and abroad, and use sport an educational tool that contributes to children’s development. The project additionally promotes social integration for marginalised sectors of the population, while enabling participants to develop their knowledge of football, personal balance and interpersonal relationships.

UEFA Foundation for Children funds will permit the sustainability of the programme for the benefit of 600 children. The RMF wants to

  •  foster values and positive living habits through the use of sport;
  •  benefit children and youth through the practice of sports, to assist in their physical and psychological development;
  •  provide the beneficiaries with outdoor activities, such as tournaments with other shelter homes and social sport schools;
  •  benefit and maintain the staff working on the programme;
  •  benefit the staff involved in the activities.

Project activities

All RMF projects have a sports component; however, the projects do not aim for a high-level performance and are not used for scouting or as a talent pool. They aim to boost education through sport. One tool to reach that is the sports methodology called ‘For a real education: values and sports’. Developed over the last 20 years, it covers the whole spectrum of the RMF’s capabilities: physical and sports training combined with personal and psychological development. The RMF methodology is applied to the two sports that are developed in the social-sports schools: football and basketball. The aim is to train coaches who will then pass on the values to the beneficiaries. Local trainers are also provided with all the necessary teaching materials. During the sessions, various values are related to social, educational, physical-motor, technical-tactical skills, and rules.

In addition, RMF organises the Copa Alma, a 4-day social tournament that promotes coexistence between students and the exchange of experience among their coaches. The tournament includes sports, cultural and social activities and acts as an educational tool by rewarding the application of values in the competition. It has a direct influence on the social and interpersonal skills of the beneficiaries since many of them are exposed to an international atmosphere for the first time. Up to now, RMF has held six tournaments in different cities in collaboration with local partners. Participants are 12 years old who are already enrolled in the social-sports schools in Europe.

Expected results

In general, UEFA foundation funds will contribute to the holistic development of the beneficiaries by supporting the sustainability of the sports and social activities in the next two seasons. It will also contribute to the next Copa Alma.

In parallel to that, some expected results are:

  • Education through football and social activities to help the children integrate
  • Help the individuals see their situation in a different way; providing a variety of ways to solve problems and encouraging a positive motivational experience
  • lncrease self-esteem and self-efficacy in the children and help reduce the risk of social exclusion

Partner

New futures through sport

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Vietnam
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 230,797
Foundation funding € 65,268
Project identifier 2019751
Partners Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Whether they live in the city or in rural provinces, children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Vietnam are extremely vulnerable to abuse and trafficking.

The streets of Hanoi are home to many children from other poor provinces who have made their way to the capital city in search of work or to run away from domestic problems, such as violence, alcohol and drug abuse or extreme poverty and neglect. On the streets, the children are at high risk of abuse in the form of labour or sex.

In the far north-west of Vietnam sits Dien Bien province, the poorest in the country. Both rampant poverty and the proximity to China and Laos through mountainous borders that are extremely difficult to control have turned Dien Bien into a human trafficking hotspot. Further south, in central Vietnam, is Thua Thien Hue province, where poverty is also prevalent. There, as in Dien Bien, natural disasters like drought or typhoons happen often and hit hard. In these rural areas, the levels of child labour and trafficking are particularly high.

Project content

The Blue Dragon project uses sport as a catalyst for positive change, both in the city and in these two impoverished provinces. The project not only targets street children but also those with disabilities or from very poor backgrounds. We use football and other sporting activities to educate and empower the children, so that they become confident leaders of their own lives.

In Hanoi, we organize a range of sporting activities for children and teenagers, but it all started with football. The football team includes street children; children living in our shelters; and children and teenagers living in the community from poor and dysfunctional families. In addition to football, we encourage children to join other sports such as basketball and skateboarding, and other activities including drama, hip hop dance, and gym.

In Thua Thien Hue and Dien Bien provinces, Blue Dragon organises sports and youth development activities primarily in collaboration with schools and boarding schools. By improving community sport and recreational opportunities for children and youth in local communities, we not only improve the children’s health and skills, but help to break the cycle of leaving home and early labour.

In all provinces, Blue Dragon also leads workshops to teach children essential work skills, such as communication and teamwork, and workshops to educate children, parents and communities about the dangers of child labour and human trafficking.

Objectives

The project uses sport as a catalyst for positive change towards new futures for at-risk children living in Vietnam; and to ensure that all Blue Dragon children are confident leaders of their own lives.

Specific objectives

  • Enable at-risk children to access sporting and recreational activities
  • Help all children to develop key life skills, including teamwork, conflict management and communication, time management, commitment, confidence and leadership.

Project activities

  • Sports activities

The sports and recreational activities create safe and happy spaces for vulnerable children, help them to develop essential work and life skills, and explore their passions so that they can build successful futures.

  • Workshops and training

The soft skills workshops and training for children, parents and other community members help to prevent child labour and trafficking and help them better care for and protect their children.

Expected results

This project will provide access to sports and recreational activities for 1,585 highly disadvantaged children in three provinces in Vietnam. All children will improve their physical fitness and develop life and work skills that improve their employability and equip them to escape poverty and have future successful lives. Over 250 parents and community members will improve their knowledge of child protection.

Partner

Kick for Trade

Location and general information

Terminé
Location The Gambia and Guinea
Start date 09/01/2019
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 287,750
Foundation funding € 200,000
Project identifier 2019585
Partners International Trade Centre and streetfootballworld
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Globally, more than 59 million young people are unemployed and nearly 136 million of those who are working continue to live in poverty. Young people are often denied decent employment opportunities or the possibility of setting up their own businesses due, for example, to skills mismatches or a lack of access to finance. Such barriers to employment and entrepreneurship stand in the way of young people applying their skills, making their voices heard, and actively shaping society, creating an environment of decent work and successful trade that works for them.

Through Kick for Trade, the project consortium of International Trade Centre, streetfootballworld, Kick4Life, FedEx Express and the UEFA Foundation for Children aims to ensure that youth are part of the game and  receive the training they need to support them in their professional development and entrepreneurial aspirations.

Project content

Football offers an opportunity to engage with young adults who are far from the job market and need career guidance. Through the Kick For Trade project, the International Trade Centre plans to develop two toolkits – life skills for employability and football for entrepreneurial skills development – to address specific youth development needs among young people in and returnees to The Gambia and Guinea.

The project is aimed at young people from different backgrounds, delivering demonstrable results that move participants closer to education, training, employment and entrepreneurship.

In addition, Kick for Trade will develop the capacities of local football coaches to deliver employability and entrepreneurship curriculums included in the toolkits.

 

Objectives

The project aims to:

  • achieve a measurable and sustainable positive social impact for young adults, helping to develop their life skills and entrepreneurial skills;
  • train local football coaches to deliver life skills for employability and football for entrepreneurial skills programmes;
  • demonstrate support for youth development through football in The Gambia and Guinea.

Project activities

Project activities in The Gambia

  • Development of toolkits for “Life Skills for Employability” and “Football for Entrepreneurial Skill Development"
  • Stakeholder event in the Gambia to introduce Football for Employability and Entrepreneurship
  • Toolkit validation workshop
  • Training of trainers
  • Curriculum rollout
  • Ongoing capacity development for local coaches

 

Project activities in Guinea

  • Adaptation of the Kick for Trade “Life Skills for Employability” and “Football for Entrepreneurial Skill Development” toolkits
  • Development of Monitoring & Evaluation Framework and progressions strategy
  • Training-of Trainers (ToT) workshop to develop the capacities of life skills football coaches
  • Kick For Trade curriculum roll out
  • Stakeholder event in Guinea to introduce football for employability and entrepreneurship
  • Ongoing capacity development for local coaches.

Expected results

  • Increase in the number of young people and local football coaches engaged in the programme
  • Increase in the number of young people who successfully gain skills and motivation
  • Increase in the number of young people who improve their academic standing and economic well-being, and who move from education and training into employment and entrepreneurship

Partner

Sport and play for inclusion and integration

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Bulgaria
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 51,859
Foundation funding € 25,930
Project identifier 2019403
Partners World at Play
Categories Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

In 2016, 6,447 unaccompanied refugee children, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, applied for asylum in Bulgaria. With the adoption of a new law on foreigners that came into force in 2017, the temporary detention of children, including unaccompanied and separated children, was legalised, contrary to international human rights standards. Children applying for asylum were moved to refugee centres, where they lived in the same space as adults and faced a huge risk of violence and abuse.

In 2017, World at Play was invited by Caritas Bulgaria, part of the Caritas international aid organisation, to work on a programme to support and integrate refugee children and young people in the Harmanli and Sofia areas.

During a preliminary fact-finding project, it quickly became evident that there were tensions between the refugees and local communities. The local population itself faced difficulties related to low incomes and a lack of opportunities and felt excluded and marginalised due to an increased focus on refugees.

World at Play started to build relationships between young locals and young refugees. Initially working with them in separate groups, it then started integrating them into each other’s games and showed how, through the power of sport and play, individuals can engage with one another with respect and care as equals, regardless of gender, ethnicity and background.

Project content

World at Play believes that access to sport, and the freedom to play without fear, prejudice or intimidation, is an integral part of every childhood.

World at Play has been running specially designed sport and play programmes since 2004. Its games – often requiring little or no equipment – rely on specially selected coaches and trainers who have been extensively trained to:

  • work with children and young people who have experienced trauma and conflict;
  • work with marginalised children and ostracised communities;
  • work with children who have suffered abuse and physical or emotional violence
  • work with disabled children and young people.

World at Play primarily uses common, well-known games and sports such as football, hockey, frisbee, cricket and baseball, but it has a handbook of nearly 150 games that enable children to be active and have fun while also learning about teamwork, cooperation, inclusion, support, gender equality and communication.

Caritas Bulgaria is directly involved in World at Play activities as a local partner of the Harmanli refugee centre and the Voenna Rampa and Ovcha Kupel refugee centres in Sofia. Their staff and volunteers are trained to deliver World at Play programmes.

Objectives

  • To improve the lives of vulnerable children in society, e.g. socially underprivileged children, Roma communities, disabled children and unaccompanied refugee children
  • To promote gender equality in communities where females are often treated unfairly
  • To use games to promote teamwork
  • To strengthen academic knowledge, particularly language skills, through play
  • To encourage participation of young refugee victims of trauma, using sport and cricket as a starting point to engage with them, lift them out of depression and find common ground to work from
  • To use music therapy in rehabilitation centres to improve the self-confidence of disabled children

Project activities

  • Sport and play sessions for refugees from a diverse range of backgrounds
  • Inclusive play sessions that emphasise gender equality
  • Skill development sessions for community leaders within the refugee camp
  • Donation of equipment to ensure sessions are sustainable

Expected results

  • Individual engagement and respect will be fostered between the different communities, regardless of gender and heritage.
  • Physical activities will benefit health and well-being.
  • Partner organisation staff will develop their sports coaching skills and be empowered to deliver future sessions in order to make the project sustainable.
  • Individuals who have faced barriers to participation in the past will be welcome at sessions as equals, in line with long-established World at Play principles.
  • Over 100 male and 35 female participants will attend World at Play sessions.

 

Partner

Child and Parent Day

Location and general information

Terminé
Location The Netherlands
Start date 09/01/2020
End date 10/31/2020
Cost of the project € 50,000
Foundation funding € 25,000
Project identifier 2019027
Partners Edwin van der Sar Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

The Child and Parent Day is an annual event for families with children 5–12 years old with brain injuries, including their parents and siblings. When it comes to regular education and sport, these children often fall behind. On the outside, most of these children look like any other; however, their brain injuries cause delays in learning and social-emotional development. This leads to exclusion, bullying and isolation. Many of these children have no suitable school or education programme. And they simply have no friends. Ultimately, they don’t go to school or sports club at all and many of them just stay at home with their parents. Which has a huge impact on their development and their day-to-day family life.

Project content

The purpose of the Child and Parent Day is to help these children make a connection, to encourage social interaction among children with the same background and help them make friends through sport. In addition, it encourages knowledge sharing and recognition for the parents. They can take part in workshops and lectures about education, rehabilitation, family support, legislation and regulations.

Objectives

  • Improve self-confidence, self-reliance and social contacts

Project activities

The Child and Parent Day comprises a variety of sports activities, adapted to the limitations of the children. The games are supervised by expert sports coaches. There are some traditional sports such as football, basketball and hockey, but also boxing lessons, climbing walls and a cycle cross track. In addition, there are all kinds of cognitive games and challenges to stimulate their brains.

Expected results

Tailor-made education, rehabilitation and leisure activities for children with brain damage.

Partner

Hapoel Katamon’s Neighbourhoods League

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Israel
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 304,000
Foundation funding € 100,000
Project identifier 2019337
Partners Katamon Moadon Ohadim
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

The poorest city in Israel, Jerusalem is a microcosm of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with hardly any positive contact between the two populations. A lack of communication is significant in the sports sector.

Arab children and teenagers in Jerusalem desperately need improved formal and informal education, as well as leisure activities and proper facilities.

Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem (HKJFC) feels that if their work can make a difference in Jerusalem it must be possible everywhere else, including in areas with less tension.

Project content

The Neighbourhoods League project is run in the greater Jerusalem area and shows the marginalised Jewish and Arab children from the east and west of the city a different reality that radiates potency, professionalism, optimism, joy and hope.

Most Jewish youngsters taking part in the project also come from poor neighbourhoods. They need help overcoming their prejudices, stereotypes and alienation from Arabs. Gender-wise, HKJFC are a pioneer in girls' and women's football and have the only female team in the city. The club obliges any school that joins the project with a boys' group to also set up a girls’ group. HKJFC’s teen girls have just won the national girls’ cup.

In addition to the female players in its professional, recreational and community programmes, the club promotes female coaches, managers and employees who also serve as role models. HKJFC is the first and only professional football club in Israel with an elected female chair and the only football club in Jerusalem, and one of the few in Israel, to employ female coaches. In the Neighbourhoods League we require any school that wishes to enrol its boys' team in our programme to set up a girls' team as well.

Objectives

  • Bring children from different religions, nationalities and backgrounds together, in order to break down walls and stigmas
  • Use football to promote values such as: tolerance, anti-violence, anti-racism and women’s empowerment
  • Give children from underprivileged backgrounds a better education and high-quality sports activities
  • Promote women’s football in Jerusalem

Project activities

Learning centres: The club has set up unique learning centres within schools, holding 80 meetings annually. Each week, before practice, these Neighbourhoods League learning centres hold sessions to further the children’s learning skills. With the help of the learning centre staff and volunteers, the youngsters work on their homework, with an emphasis on maths, science and English. Sometimes the children utilise the time to work on a specifically requested subject or task. The centre also includes social activities, to enable the children to work better as a group, become friends and overcome problems that occur during practice.

Football training: Two football practices geared at children aged 9–14 are held each week during the October–June school year. The teams, each with its own coach, enable children to play organised football, learn skills and improve their fitness, as well as consolidate social skills. There are no try-outs: all children are welcome to take part.

Festive tournaments: Regular festive tournaments encourage fair play and sportsmanship. Each month, all the girls’ teams and all the boys’ teams take part in festive tournaments. Games are played simultaneously and have no referees – it is up to the participants to sort out their differences by themselves, which changes the whole perspective. The tournaments bring children from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and religions together, with the common language of football.

One-on-one sessions: The core essence of HKJFC’s P2P approach. Our decade of binational activities has taught us that a substantial amount of time needs to be devoted to additional face-to-face work with binational teams. Rather than playing Arabs against Jews, the teams are mixed and play games together. This is in addition to taking part in the league.

Expected results

The project invests a major effort in directly addressing and reducing conflict between the Arabs and Jews of Jerusalem. Its 750 children, 30 coaches, 20 volunteers and 10 tutors are being trained in conflict mitigation and management, to be used by them on the field. Football improves the atmosphere by setting a clear set of rules in a complex environment framed by a never-ending conflict.

It ensures impartiality and teaches the youngsters the principles of fairness, mutual respect and the equal rights of other people, fostering a bubble of non-violence, which in turn radiates out to the community at large. It bypasses socioeconomic differences, addressing the marginalised, regardless of whether the individual can pay, and occupies the youngsters in positive and meaningful activities that promote conflict mitigation, rather than behaviours and dynamics that perpetuate conflict and exclusion. It fosters good human relations and contributes to a healthier society and the reduction of stress. Our main goals are to promote dialogue through football and education and empower the girls of Jerusalem to play football.

Partner

GoFitba

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Scotland
Start date 02/01/2020
End date 03/31/2021
Cost of the project €70,596
Foundation funding €33,448
Project identifier 2019015
Partners Scottish Football Partnership Trust
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

The GoFitba project invests in young, vulnerable primary schoolchildren living in poverty across deprived areas of Scotland. It aims to maximise their future prospects for health and well-being by providing free-to-access fun football activities, health education and hot, healthy meals.

Project content

GoFitba is a 12-week football-based health and well-being project that provides opportunities for Scotland’s most disadvantaged primary schoolchildren living in poverty to take part in a free-to-access, fun sport and health education initiative delivered by partner community football clubs across the country.

GoFitba takes a holistic approach to teach children the benefits of regular physical activity within a football environment, with each structured session providing the national target of one hour of moderate physical activity each day. During the second hour of each session, the children take part in an interactive educational journey with their very own learning journal to explore the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle through diet and nutrition. The final component of each session sees the children being served a hot, healthy meal which crucially ensures the children are being fed outside school hours, helping to tackle food poverty. The project also allows these children to spend some social time with their peers in a safe environment, helping with issues of integration, social inclusion and community development with the wider family unit as parents and guardians are invited to participate in the project during week 12.

Objectives

  • To provide disadvantaged primary schoolchildren with opportunities to take part in free-to-access fun football activities.
  • To educate the project participants on the importance of being active in their daily lives and to use the GoFitba football hour as a vehicle to improve their knowledge and understanding, self-esteem and confidence.
  • To make use of the interactive GoFitba learning journal to educate the project participants on the importance of leading a healthier lifestyle through diet and nutrition and to increase the children’s confidence of working in groups.
  • To provide each participant with a hot, healthy meal at the end of each weekly session to help reinforce their learning on diet and nutrition and to tackle food poverty by providing nutritious food outside school hours.
  • To host a showcase event at the conclusion of the 12-week session for the participants and their parents/guardians and school teachers. This element of the project is geared at extending the importance of leading an active, healthy lifestyle through exercise, diet and nutrition to the wider family unit. It also helps to bring the participants, their families, school teachers and the project coaches together to strengthen the links between the local football club and the broader community.

Project activities

Hour 1 - Football and fitness session

Session structure:

  • Structured warm-ups and cool-downs
  • Weekly football themes – passing, dribbling, technique and control, shooting, defending and football agility
  • Fun game-related activities
  • Team-building and problem-solving activities focusing on improving confidence, communication, team-work, decision-making, respect for others and developing participants’ cognitive skills
  • Small-sided games – fun and competitive play and freedom of expression

 

Hour 2 – Positive nutritional messages and healthy, hot, homemade meal

Session structure:

  • The Eatwell Guide
  • Food groups and their purpose
  • Water and hydration
  • Energy values
  • Healthy cooked meal
  • Personal hygiene – washing hands and table manners

Expected results

  • Provide opportunities for 400 young, disadvantaged children to take part in the GoFitba project, helping them to become happier, healthier and more engaged through the delivery of 9,600 individual hours of football activity and health education
  • Encouraging and enabling the inactive to be active
  • Developing physical confidence and competence from the earliest age
  • Improving opportunities to participate, progress and achieve in sport
  • Supporting the well-being and resilience of communities through physical activity and sport
  • Tackling food inequality

 

Link to the project: www.gofitba.com

 

Partner

Refugee eSports Cup

Location and general information

Closed
Location Jordan
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/01/2020
Cost of the project €100,000
Foundation funding €100,000
Project identifier 2019001
Partners Librairies without Borders (BSF)
Categories Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

On average, refugees spend eighteen years in a camp – without being able to learn, read or engage with society. Since 2007, BSF has been helping to connect refugees to the outside world, from Rohingyas in Bangladesh to Burundians in Tanzania, giving women, men, and children resources to combat boredom, cultivate resilience, and plan for the future. By promoting access to education, culture, and information, BSF aspires to give everyone the ability to be independent and free to flourish.

For the first time, with the support of the UEFA Foundation for Children, BSF is organising an eSports tournament at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

Tool for social cohesion. Nowadays, video games have their place in society and can even be found in libraries and museums. Video games can now earn more than movies or books. We believe that digital football matches can strengthen communities, build resilience, and promote social cohesion.

Video games in refugee camps?

Libraries Without Borders and the UEFA Foundation for Children wish to make a positive use of this cultural good for all. Hence the idea to organise the first eSports cup tournament for refugees using the FIFA 20 game.

Communication tool. Interactive and inclusive video games promote social cohesion: players bond, exchange and build a community regardless of their personal story. Games can stimulate imagination and creativity, immersing players in an alternative universe. At the same time, the physical setting of the tournament will be an opportunity to meet, learn about various challenges, and establish rules for living together.

Project content

The project targets girls and boys aged between 10 and 18 years old and will include youngsters with disabilities. Parents and caregivers will also be involved in the project through regular consultations, invitation to the final events and free use of game consoles provided by PlayStation.

Two weeks will be spent mobilising the community and selecting participants to take part in the training sessions and final e-tournament through vulnerability referrals from the education partners in the camp.

Selected participants will be required to take part in partners’ activities to encourage access to educational content and will be shortlisted for the final events during a qualification phase that takes account not only of their skill level but also their regular attendance and involvement in the partners’ activities. Various tournament leagues will be created, to ensure the inclusion of children with disabilities.

To ensure the project reaches a wider audience, dedicated time slots will be set aside for free use, enabling the rest of the community to access the resources.

The activities will be run in various locations around the camp to reach different sectors of the population and make it easier for children with disabilities to take part. The main location will be in the House of Sport run by the Association Football Development Program Global (AFDP Global) and there will be two smaller locations.

Objectives

The programme is intended to provide recreational spaces for girls and boys in the Zaatari camp using the FIFA 20 game in an eSports competition. Designed as a pilot project, the outcomes will be carefully assessed to determine whether the approach could be duplicated in other suitable locations hosting vulnerable populations.

  • Create recreational spaces for video gaming that will allow youngsters to be involved in activities, providing them with some respite from the difficulties of their daily lives, and that can be used by the partners as hubs for psychosocial, protection or educational activities.
  • Give the opportunity to children with disabilities to participate to the e-tournament.
  • Create inclusive spaces that enhance social cohesion in the communities and generate positive coping mechanisms through social interaction and using the video games.
  • Raising the general public’s awareness of the reality of the camp life through the video game media campaign.

Project activities

At the heart of this project: entertainment that promotes social cohesion

Set-up and qualifications

Two hundred youngsters, boys and girls from 10 to 18 years old, including disabled children, will compete in the final from 31 January to 1 February 2020.

Several training centres will be available for a month beforehand, where the children will have the opportunity to play and familiarise themselves with the FIFA 20 video console game. Qualifying matches will be held to create the pools for the final tournament, which will comprise different categories and age groups so that the participants can play more games. All sessions will be linked to educational activities in the camp.

Tournament final

The final is also the media moment of this programme. Local and international media and influencers will be invited to cover approximately two days of the event.

Side events will be organised with football sessions and freestyle courses.

To ensure the sustainability of the initiative, after the tournament at least 5 PlayStations will remain in the camp.

Expected results

The project aims to attract a total of 350 children and teenagers to the training session and 1,500 people to the free-use activities. The programme aims at a gender balance and the inclusion of approximately 50 youngsters with disabilities.

This pilot project will be assessed and duplicated at the Cox's Bazar camp in Bangladesh.

Partner

Football in the Azraq refugee camp

Location and general information

Closed
Location Jordan
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project €EUR 58,000
Foundation funding €EUR 58,000
Project identifier ASI - 0110
Partners AFDP Global
Categories Conflict victims

Context

The Catalyst Foundation for Universal Education, Aurora, the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP) and the UEFA Foundation for Children are helping people displaced by the conflict in Syria, particularly children and teenagers living in the Azraq refugee camp.

Project content

The Association Football Development Programme Global (AFDP Global) intends to continue its ongoing project in the Azraq refugee camp to continue providing safe and supervised sports activities for Syrian children and teenagers. It will also train young Syrian adults as coaches and role models, developing their skills and ensuring proper supervision of the children taking part in the programme. The coaches will be taught English to develop their language skills and intercultural understanding so that they not only understand the game but can also communicate in a global language and in a multicultural environment.

The primary target group is children and teenagers (boys and girls) from 6 to 20.

The secondary target group comprises male and female adults, such as parents, who volunteer to be trained as coaches, team leaders and referees.

 

Objectives

  • Engage Syrian children and teenagers (girls and boys) by organising football and other sports activities in an appropriate, safe and supervised environment where they can remain youngsters and have some fun. In addition to playing and spending time together, they learn football skills and assimilate fundamental values of sport such as respect, fair play, team spirit and solidarity, and are also taught about specific social issues.
  • Train Syrian grassroots football coaches and referees, teaching them how to run coaching sessions but also give them the skills to organise a league and run football clubs. Specific classes focus on refereeing skills.
  • Include a specific life-skills curriculum, based on the context and needs. The coaches learn how to utilise the values of sport to encourage the children’s personal development and raise their awareness of certain social issues. The curriculum uses a fun, educational approach to address social issues and to focus, in particular, on conflict resolution and raising awareness of the issue of early marriages, birth control, the importance of school, health, hygiene and well-being.
  • Provide equipment and upgrade the football pitch into artificial turf, providing a reliable infrastructure and safe zone for the children to play in.

Project activities

To provide a safe environment for beneficiaries of the project, the UEFA foundation, in cooperation with AFDP Global and the Jordanian Football Association, contributed to the artificial-turf conversion of a small pitch for girls in 2018, with the financial support of LAY’S.

Two containers were sent from the Netherlands with artificial turf, construction material (including geotextiles, adhesive, tape, a tractor and other maintenance equipment), and pitch equipment such as goals and corner flags.

Solar-powered lighting was installed in 2020 to extend the availability of the pitch during the day.

Washing facilities will be added during 2021.

Expected results

  • An average of 500 children and youngsters – boys and girls aged between 8 and 20 – regularly take part in the weekly sports activities and monthly football tournaments supervised by qualified educators, both male and female.
  • Fair-play football tournaments will be held in the camp on the last Friday of every month.
  • 18 male and female refugees will use sport, and football in particular, as a tool for social cohesion and conflict resolution, and will act as multipliers.
  • Awareness of trauma recovery, sport as a tool for social cohesion, the disadvantages of early marriages, and conflict resolution will be increased significantly.

Partner

Football for Employability

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Romania, Hungary, Ireland, UK
Start date 02/01/2019
End date 05/31/2021
Cost of the project €193,600
Foundation funding € 105,757
Project identifier EUR-0149
Partners FedEx, streetfootballworld, Sport 4 Life UK, Policy Center for Roma and Minorities, Oltalom, Sport Against Racism Ireland
Categories Employability - Personal development - Sponsors

Context

Football provides an opportunity to address young adults struggling to enter the job market and help them through education, activities to improve job-seeking skills, vocational training and personal development programmes. This project aligns with the Football for Unity concept that the UEFA Foundation for Children and streetfootballworld will implement together during the UEFA EURO 2020 competition. For the first time ever, the tournament will be played in 12 European cities and will see the activation of local initiatives using football to promote social development. The programme will be delivered in four locations (Bucharest, Budapest, Dublin, Birmingham) aiming deliver demonstrable results by bringing youngsters closer to education, employment and training (EET).

This project is being run in close collaboration with streetfootballworld and FedEx.

Project content

The target group and activities in the four locations are broken down as follows:

Birmingham, UK - Sport 4 Life (S4L UK)

S4L UK provides the opportunity for disadvantaged young people aged 12–29 to prepare for and move into sustained education, employment or training by improving their employability and key life skills, through sports-themed personal development programmes. The two main pillars of its work are the TEENS programme (personal development programme for socially excluded 12–16 year-olds) and the NEETS (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) programme (employability and personal development programme for 16–29 year-olds). This project will allow S4L UK to strengthen its actions by scaling the methodologies and approaches of the ‘Team up! toolkit’, resulting in extended reach and higher overall impact numbers.

Bucharest, Romania - Policy Center for Roma and Minorities (PCRM)

The organisation enables youngsters aged 7–18 to play an active role in society and promotes inclusion through sustainable educational and football-based programmes. A small-scale employability programme called the ‘Alternative Education Club’, provides workshops and non-formal education through arts and sports. This project will allow the PCRM to consolidate its activities and offer this programme to greater numbers of marginalised young people.

Budapest Hungary - Oltalom Sport Association (OSA)

Oltalom has developed football-based and educational programmes to help young people aged 16–30 integrate into society. In addition to English lessons, a social support and counselling programme helps these young people to draft CVs and cover letters and provides mock job interviews to improve their interview techniques. This project will enable the organisation to consolidate its employability programme.

Dublin, lreland - Sport Against Racism lreland (SARI)

SARI was founded as an NGO in 1997 to support cultural integration and social inclusion in lreland by using sport, particularly football, as a medium to combat racism, sectarianism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination. As the organisation has grown, SARI has developed a youth leadership programme that provides young leaders with the necessary skills to reach their full potential. This project will enable SARI to strengthen its employability programmes within the youth leadership programme and enable more young people to transition to employment, education and training.

 

Objectives

  • The project will utilise the TeamUp! toolkit, which was the outcome of a pan-European project supported by Erasmus+ and delivered within the framework of the European Commission's Strategic Partnerships for Youth.The toolkit:
    • delivers an innovative approach to one of Europe's most pressing social challenges: youth unemployment;
    • identifies and disseminates best practices and impact-proven methodologies to key players in the sectors of sports, youth employability and non-formal education;
    • arms organisations with a comprehensive understanding of how to develop and run football-based employability programmes;
    • targets young adults not in education, employment or training and equips them with the skills they need to build new paths towards a sustainable livelihood.
  • This initiative brings youth in the four different European countries closer to employment and further education by providing capacity building opportunities for local community organisations and supporting local football for employability programmes. Football serves as a low threshold engagement tool for the local, disadvantaged youth that are difficult to reach through other methods of communication, and as methodology to foster soft skills for increased employability of the participants. This is supplemented by specific hard skill and job skill training sessions, e.g. CV writing workshops, language classes, etc. After the first project phase in 19/20, the further need has been identified by the project consortium for further capacity development modules and specific training programmes on how to successfully implement specific employability activities. The 20/21 project will address this need.

Project activities

FOOTBALL AND EMPLOYABILITY PROGRAMMES:

The partner organisations implement football and employability programmes in disadvantaged communities. Employability activities are structured around three skill areas:

  • Soft skills for employability– personal attributes needed to operate successfully in society
  • Job seeking skills – practical skills for finding and applying for a job
  • Hard skills – qualifications needed to perform a specific job

CAPACITY BUILDING AND ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

The participating organisations will, guided by streetfootballworld and the expert organisation Sport4Life UK, develop organisational action plans to implement and extent their employability programmes.

Expected results

A three-stage impact measurement process represents the three main milestones in the participant’s journey

  • Engagement: number of young people engaged in the programme
  • Increased employability: number of young people who successfully gain skills and motivation
  • Progression: number of young people moved from ‘not in education, employment or training’ to ‘in education, employment or training’.

Partner

Math Attack

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Saint Lucia
Start date 06/01/2019
End date 07/31/2021
Cost of the project €184,356
Foundation funding €132,405
Project identifier AME - 2018424
Partners Sacred Sports Foundation Inc.
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

The Math Attack programme is a specific response to poor local education standards and alarming declines in understanding of mathematics among school-age children. Academic pass rates in mathematics have been on the decline for well over a decade. Around 50% of male school students in Saint Lucia fails mathematics and around 20% of children who repeat a grade in school have some identifiable learning disability. Currently, fewer than 15% of school leavers in the region move on to further education. School dropout rates are closely associated with adverse health outcomes. Children who fail in school are more likely to engage in subsequent health-impairing behaviours as adolescents. Failing students are also more likely to drop out of school.

Project content

The Math Attack programme will provide a child-friendly, safe and welcoming environment for after-school academic enrichment and support for at-risk youth between the ages of 11 and 15, using sport as a tool to enhance the development of life skills, foster positive social behaviours and improve academic performance.

Children are born wanting to move. The options for sport and play will be fun and modified where necessary to encourage team building and leadership development.

To motivate the participants, Sacred Sports Foundation ties small rewards to children’s efforts and progress so they can experience the short-term, ongoing pay-off of their sweat.

Children of all ages get excited about reaching personal achievements and contributing to team goals. Group and individual feedback loops are built into all activities.

Objectives

  • To use sport as a tool to enhance the development of life skills, foster positive social behaviours and improve academic performance.
  • To provide a child-friendly, safe and welcoming environment for after-school academic enrichment and support for at-risk youth between the ages of 11 and 15.
  • For 120 participants to attend a well-structured after-school programme three days per week, and receive high-quality assistance in three core programme areas:
    1. mathematics and academic tutoring,
    2. extracurricular sporting activities, and
    3. life skills.

Project activities

  1. Mathematics homework support/tutoring three days a week (60 minutes per day), covering topics including academic enrichment, technology skills development and self-discipline.
  2. Sport support three days per week (60 minutes per day), including defined mathematics skills coaching and improved understanding of nutrition, health and well-being.
  3. Life skills support three days per week (30 minutes per day), including a conflict resolution programme and positive behaviour reinforcement to enhance learning and negotiation skills.

Expected results

It is anticipated that over 85% of the participating students will report that their marks increase by at least one grade level annually as a result of attending the programme. Key stakeholders are expected to see noticeable signs of improvement in participants’ learning attitude – for example, a more positive view of school, better study habits and an increase in the completion of homework.

The programme will lead to:

  • improved academic performance and better grades in mathematics,
  • better physical health and understanding of nutrition,
  • a greater ability to find a peaceful solution to disagreements,
  • improved social and emotional well-being of most of the participants,
  • greater engagement in school of all participants,
  • improved student behaviour, and
  • greater parent/guardian engagement.

Partner