La Nuestra Football Club

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Argentina
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project € 315,000
Foundation funding € 143,300
Project identifier 2019062
Partners Women Win
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

According to Argentina’s Observatory on Femicide, 124 girls were killed in the country between 2008 and 2013 (an average of around 21 a year). The majority of those killings were linked to gender-based violence among young unmarried couples or followed sexual abuse. Poor social status and a lack of access to leadership roles and economic opportunities are both linked to girls feeling powerless and increases in gender-based violence. The use of violence, intimidation and coercion against girls reinforces their subordinate status, takes power out of their hands and limits their opportunities and the decisions they can make for themselves. Early childhood and adolescence are critical periods for interventions aimed at ending this cycle, with football playing a key role in terms of helping Argentinian girls to develop the skills they need to stand up for their rights.

Through football, girls can take on leadership roles and tackle gender stereotypes. Football is a catalyst for the development of leadership skills, giving girls the opportunity to boost their self-esteem and courage. The ripple effects of their experience on the pitch can be observed in all aspects of their lives: footballers take the initiative, speak up and have the courage to take risks; and when they fall, they get back up again. Through football, girls learn to challenge socio-cultural norms and gender stereotypes, both at community level and in wider society. When girls play football, they transcend the limits that society places on them, acquiring skills that will allow them to do the same in other areas of life, such as education and the workplace.

The La Nuestra Football Club project will work with girls from Villa 31, a slum in Buenos Aires that is home to 14,000 girls. Outside their community, those girls are called by the derogatory name ‘villera’, and they face prejudice throughout the city. In addition to Argentinian girls who have moved (either with or without their families) from other parts of the country in search of a better life, Villa 31 is also home to girls from various other countries (including Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru). This project will use football as a means of empowering those girls and encouraging them to exercise their rights.

Project content

Through La Nuestra Football Club, Women Win and its local partner in Villa 31 will use football to develop life skills and empower socially deprived girls, while at the same time combating harmful gender stereotypes and their consequences (gender-based violence, gender pay gaps, lack of female political representation, lack of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, etc.).

Through football, girls:

  • become physically stronger and healthier and develop greater ownership and understanding of their bodies. If a girl regards her body as her own, she protects it, cherishes it, and demands that it be respected;
  • develop critical life skills that are transferable to other spheres of life, such as teamwork, goal setting, resilience and communication, all through the constant practice that football requires;
  • gain access to a safe space to grow and explore, especially with regard to physical, social and emotional development;
  • connect with peers for social support – a vital reference point and resource for dealing with the challenges associated with growing up;
  • learn from a positive female role model in the form of a female coach or team leader. This provides girls with a caring, supportive mentor to help navigate growing up and inspire a vision of what is possible;
  • explore human differences and connect with others from different classes, races, countries or religions, which in turn promotes mutual respect and a deeper understanding of other people;
  • capture the attention of the community. When girls play in public, they have an instant awareness-raising opportunity to assert their rights within the community. Victories, kits and leadership positions can alter a girl’s status within her community, changing her from a perceived liability to a source of pride;
  • have fun. The opportunity to be distracted from the pressures of growing up is a universal right.

 

Objectives

Year 1

  • Work with local partner on the development of a Girls’ Empowerment Through Football curriculum and programme, to be available in English and Spanish
  • Work with local partner on knowledge exchange in areas such as: leadership and strategy; people and infrastructure; coach development plan and sports facilities; financial management; fundraising and partnerships; communication and networks; training of female coaches; and technical services
  • Train coaches on the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football curriculum
  • Work with local partner on a monitoring and evaluation plan, including the collection of data for Women Win’s international database on girls’ sport
  • Recruit girls to participate in the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football programme and start delivery in partnership with local partner’s coaches

Year 2

  • Recruit new girls to participate in the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football programme and deliver programme in partnership with local partner’s coaches
  • Deliver sessions addressing specific development needs of female coaches, as identified by local partner
  • Work with local partner on knowledge exchange in areas such as: leadership and strategy; people and infrastructure; coach development plan and sports facilities; financial management; fundraising and partnerships; communication and networks; training of female coaches; and technical services
  • Work with local partner on the translation and contextualisation of Women Win’s Girls, Inclusion and Safeguarding self-assessments
  • Help ten Argentinian sports associations and sport for development organisations to identify capacity building needs in relation to the recruitment/retention of girls and child protection and safeguarding
  • Co-design, develop and deliver the Girls, Inclusion and Safeguarding workshop for ten Argentinian sports associations and sport for development organisations

Year 3

  • Recruit new girls to participate in the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football programme and deliver programme in partnership with local partner’s coaches
  • Work with local partner on knowledge exchange in areas such as: leadership and strategy; people and infrastructure; coach development plan and sports facilities; financial management; fundraising and partnerships; communication and networks; training of female coaches; and technical services
  • Work with local partner on the translation and contextualisation of Women Win’s Girls, Inclusion and Safeguarding self-assessments
  • Help ten Argentinian sports associations and sport for development organisations to identify capacity building needs in relation to the recruitment/retention of girls and child protection and safeguarding
  • Co-design, develop and deliver the Girls, Inclusion and Safeguarding workshop for ten Argentinian sports associations and sport for development organisations

Project activities

The La Nuestra Football Club project will use a curriculum in which football drills and matches are intertwined with the teaching of life skills. The girls will play football and have fun, while at the same time boosting their self-esteem and confidence, developing leadership skills, learning about health matters and the environment, and becoming financially literate.

Many of the female coaches working with the local partner are former professional footballers or have coaching qualifications. Women Win will provide the local partner with technical support and other institution strengthening assistance (including training aimed specifically at female coaches) in order to help it become a national point of reference for gender equality and football in Argentina.

Expected results

By the end of the third year, it is expected that:

  • 300 girls will have participated in the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football programme;
  • at least four local coaches will have qualified as ‘master trainers’ for the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football curriculum and programme;
  • at least eight employees of the local partner will have participated in institution strengthening and knowledge sharing workshops, helping it to become a national point of reference for gender equality and football;
  • 20 employees of sports associations and sport for development organisations will have participated in the Girls, Inclusion and Safeguarding workshop;
  • male and female members of the community will have seen the girls playing, challenging gender stereotypes;
  • relatives of girls participating in the Girls’ Empowerment Through Football programme will have been influenced either by seeing the girls playing or through the girls sharing knowledge acquired during the programme.

Partner

Welcome through Football

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the UK and Ukraine
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 06/30/2022
Cost of the project € 250,487
Foundation funding € 175,000
Project identifier 2019565
Partners European Football for Development Network (EFDN)
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

A large proportion of refugees around the world are children and young people. In 2016, more than four in five (83%) first-time asylum seekers in the European Union were younger than 35 years old,  with those aged 18 to 34 accounting for slightly more than half of first-time applicants (51%). Nearly a third of all first-time applicants were aged under 18 (32%).

While the resettlement of individuals and families is a priority, ensuring their long-term inclusion into society is also crucial. The Council of Europe’s youth policy focuses on providing all young people with equal opportunities and experiences, thus enabling them to develop their knowledge, skills and competencies and to fully participate in all aspects of society. Special attention is paid to vulnerable groups of young people such as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

The Welcome through Football project was developed in line with the statement on the refugee crisis in Europe adopted by the Advisory Council on Youth in 2015, which sets out various priorities and calls for special attention to be paid to the growing number of vulnerable and marginalised young people in Europe.

Project content

Participation in safe and structured activities is vital for the development of young migrants and refugees and the need for additional services for this population is even greater than in previous years owing to the numbers of new arrivals. Almost all the countries participating in the project have high numbers of refugees concentrated in the inner cities. These young refugees are mostly excluded from society and participation in sport can be a first step towards social integration, as it allows them to make friends and establish social networks. Cultural understanding is a central theme of the programme and, by working with and playing alongside their peers from different countries, youngsters build mutual respect and gain a shared educational experience. It is also valuable for young people to understand that, while sporting talent can create opportunities, success can also be achieved by giving back to local communities through citizenship projects.

The project activities are organised into three stages:

  1. Socialisation to sports – different football activities are offered for young refugees of both sexes, taking into account any special needs, such as language skills or trauma.
  2. Socialisation in sports – the participants work on team structure and are given more responsibility. Participants also have the opportunity to engage in activities outside the sports training sessions.
  3. Socialisation through sports – participants focus on the skills they have acquired, with a view to qualifying for further education in and outside of sports.

These three stages offer the participants many opportunities to contribute to their own development, their community and the project itself.

During the first stage, sporting activities enable the participants to relieve stress, cope with trauma and learn a new language. They take part in activities, but do not have any responsibilities other than their own personal development.

During the second stage, participants are introduced to a grassroots club where they discover the importance of volunteering to ensure the sustainability of such clubs. Cooperation with local schools and NGOs provides them with the opportunity to develop themselves further, participate in regular sports training and matches, and take part in a wide variety of volunteering activities offered by a professional or grassroots club, in cooperation with local partners.

During the third stage of the project, participants have the opportunity to do short internships in local businesses, receive additional language training and develop important employability and life skills.

 

Welcome through football is implemented in partnership with SV Werder Bremen, Everton in the Community, Fundação Benfica, Sheffield United Foundation , Shakhtar Social, FC Emmen (Naoberschap United) and Apollon Limassol FC.

 

Objectives

The Welcome through Football methodology focuses on the social inclusion and employability of newly arrived young migrants and refugees. To this end, the activities aim to improve the quality of youth work and intercultural dialogue, raise awareness and increase acceptance of diversity in society. The project also builds the capacity of football coaches and youth workers, helping them to develop and share effective methods for reaching out to the marginalised target group and preventing racism and intolerance. The project aims to empower vulnerable and marginalised young people and ease their transition to adulthood, with a particular focus on integration into the labour market.

Better cooperation between local youth and sporting organisations will be established through multiple cross-sectoral partnerships. The project focuses on improving active citizenship, reducing social exclusion and promoting the social autonomy of young migrants and refugees in their new home. To this end, the project aims to encourage volunteering among the refugee and migrant population.

Specific objectives of the project:

  • Evaluating existing methodologies
  • Delivering Welcome through Football activities and developing the Welcome through Football methodology, practitioners guide and other resources
  • Tackling racism, discrimination and violence in sport
  • Promoting healthy lifestyles and regular physical activity
  • Improving the emotional well-being of refugees through participation in sport
  • Improving perceptions about refugees
  • Raising awareness among stakeholders (sports clubs, NGOs and national and local governments) of the positive impact of football and sport in general
  • Increasing the community and sporting participation of refugees who are at risk of social exclusion
  • Encouraging refugees to volunteer in sport
  • Raising awareness of the social power of sport
  • Sharing experiences and best practices
  • Integration into grassroots clubs
  • Integration into the labour market

Project activities

  1. Delivery of five 12-week programmes during which the critical success factors of the Welcome through Football methodology will be tested. Seven clubs will organise a minimum of 672 activities as part of the project, but the total number of activities organised is expected to be around 1,000.
  2. An affiliation and advocacy programme for youth organisations, sports clubs, associations, federations and public bodies.
  3. Development of the Welcome through Football methodology and a methodological guide that can be published as an open-access resource on the EFDN educational online platform.
  4. Networking activities: five transnational project meetings will be organised and presentations will be made at four international conferences to introduce the project, its outcomes and the resources developed (November 2020, Breda, the Netherlands (EFDN conference); March 2021, Budapest, Hungary; November 2021, Bremen, Germany; and March 2022 Liverpool, UK).
  5. Establishment of a communication and dissemination plan (including workshops at conferences, resources for an online platform for sharing experiences and examples, participation in #FootballPeople action weeks).
  6. Development of a pilot affiliation programme for youth organisations, sports organisations, clubs and associations to develop and test an innovative approach for promoting the values of sport (respect, fair play, etc.) and facilitating the integration of refugees through sport.

Welcome through Football – Apollon Limassol FC

Expected results

Participants will receive non-formal education on refugee integration through sports, giving them a greater awareness of the benefits of social integration. The establishment of intercultural teams will be encouraged, helping to familiarise participants with European sporting values (fair play, respect, teamwork).

Participants will be empowered by their increased responsibilities and active participation in sport.  The project will therefore help to develop a generation of young refugees in Europe with the potential to become community leaders.

The project will also have a direct impact on sports stakeholders, raising awareness of initiatives for refugee integration at all levels of sport and youth work and leading to new partnerships and new networks across Europe.

Partnerships will be established with local grassroots clubs in order to integrate and continue to create opportunities for refugees and migrants after the delivery of the project.

Partner

UVS International Education Centre

Location and general information

En cours
Location Senegal
Start date 04/19/2018
End date 01/01/2022
Cost of the project € 340,063
Foundation funding € 200,000
Project identifier AFR-0108
Partners Unis Vers le Sport (UVS)
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

Talibé is the name given to children living on the streets of Senegal. They are on the streets for various reasons: many are orphans, from poor families or marginalised because of a disability. Left to take care of themselves, their main objectives are often simply to find enough to eat and a roof to sleep under. In this desperate situation, the children of Saint-Louis find refuge in violence or drugs, using substances such as glue in plastic bags.

Life is also tough for children living at home with their family. With financial resources scarce, one out of every two children do not attend school but carry out household chores or painstaking work in the fields from a very young age.

Project content

In 2008, Unis Vers le Sport, in cooperation with UNESCO, opened its first school in Mali, which enabled more than 160 children from disadvantaged families to benefit from school education, sports activities, medical care and vocational training. Unis Vers le Sport would like to open a similar school in Saint-Louis, where the French organisation has been running various education and sports-based projects since 2002.

The UVS International education centre will have:

  • dormitories for boarders
  • a dining hall and kitchen for the children’s meals
  • three classrooms
  • an administrative building
  • a barn for animals and a fenced plot of land
  • a toilet block
  • an indoor sports court (basketball, volleyball, handball)
  • a football pitch

The sports activities available at the UVS International centre will also be used to promote prevention campaigns relating to local health issues (malaria, typhus, etc.) and to raise public awareness concerning various topics such as children’s rights.

Objectives

The centre has a two-fold objective. In cooperation with the Saint-Louis social services, it will accommodate and take full responsibility for the street children of Saint-Louis by offering them:

  • board and lodging
  • a full school curriculum
  • medical care
  • vocation training from age 16
  • daily sports activities
  • micro-credit when they leave the centre in order to start their own business
  • access to suitable regular sports activities for children from neighbouring villages that do not have any sports facilities or equipment of their own
  • the centre will be totally self-financed by agricultural activities (farming and market gardening)

Expected results

  • Initially, to take in and look after 100 Saint-Louis street children
  • To offer sports activities to 5,000 pupils of schools within a 20km radius of the UVS centre. A school bus service will enable the children concerned to enjoy a variety of suitable sports activities run by experienced sports coaches.
  • The center is self-financed

Partner

“African Black’n Blue” developing children’s resilience through education and football

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project € 377,736
Foundation funding € 153,460
Project identifier 2019880
Partners Inter Futura srl
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

The African Black’n Blue project will run primarily in four sub-Saharan countries, with the involvement of Italy through its coordinating partner Inter Futura.

Angola

The country's population is growing rapidly and is expected to double to over 47 million by 2060.

The urban social situation is challenging. Structural development has not kept pace with the growth of the population, and poverty has contributed to an increase in juvenile crime. In addition, Angola received just over 12,000 refugees and around 3,000 asylum seekers at the end of 2007, the vast majority from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Angola’s health situation is critical. In 2005, the estimated life expectancy was just 43 years and infant mortality was estimated to be the highest in the world, at a rate of 187.49 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Against this backdrop, sports activities play a preventive and developmental role in at-risk groups of children.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to suffer from a particularly unstable climate. The west of the country is affected by violent demonstrations, while the provinces of North and South Kivu are affected by persistent fighting among non-governmental militia composed of former soldiers and tribal groups.

However, malnutrition and the collapse of the health structure are the main causes of death. The population increased fivefold in the latter half of the 20th century, from 16.5 million in the 1960s to 80 million today (United States Census Bureau). Ten-year population growth forecasts indicate an increase to 100 million by 2025. The infant mortality rate is 54 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Cameroon

Cameroon has 25 million inhabitants with the urban population at 60%. The country is divided into 8 main ethnic groups (Cameroon Highlanders, Equatorial Bantu, Kirdi, Fulani, North-western Bantu, Eastern Nigritic, other African and non-African) with 250 subgroups and a linguistic division between the French-speaking majority (80%) and the English-speaking minority (20%). The country is at high risk of civil war. In addition, there are currently 300,000 refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigeria. 50–55% of the population lives below the poverty line, the quality of healthcare is insufficient and life expectancy is low.

These social challenges prompted Inter Futura, in collaboration with a local partner, to set up a project that emphasises ethnic integration using football as an educational tool for peace in a country where football is considered almost a religion by many.

Uganda

Uganda continues to experience the aftermath of the civil war. Many crimes against humanity have been committed, including the slavery of children. The conflict in northern Uganda has killed thousands and displaced millions more. The Ugandan public sector is considered one of the most corrupt in the world and the country’s literacy rate stands at 68%.

Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2012, 37.8% of the population lived on less than $1.25 a day. Despite making huge strides in reducing the incidence of poverty across the country, poverty remains deeply entrenched in rural areas, where 84% of the population live. People in rural Uganda depend on agriculture as their main source of income, with 90% of all rural women working in the agricultural sector. In addition to agricultural work, rural women are responsible for looking after their families – preparing food and clothing, fetching water and firewood, and caring for the elderly, sick and orphans. They work an average of 15 hours a day compared to men, who work between 8 and 10 hours.

Gender inequality is the main obstacle to reducing poverty among women. Women are submissive to men, which reduces their power to act independently, participate in community life, learn and escape domestic violence.

Children living in these areas are also underprivileged according to all United Nations health parameters:

  • physical health
  • psychological health
  • social health

With regard to their physical health, the majority of children are underdeveloped from a physical and nutritional point of view. This is certainly linked to food shortages, both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. In addition, drinking water is very poor and often polluted. Data is equal across age groups (6 to 14 years) and genders.

The main psychological health problems encountered are low self-esteem and self-awareness linked to difficult family situations and poverty, low tolerance to frustration, hostile behaviours, and high levels of anxiety due to a lack of caregivers or parents.

With regard to their social health, children have problems building relationships and violent verbal and physical behaviours are common. Children suffer from low levels of empathy, which is key to maintaining social relationships.

Project content

Inter Futura operates the Inter Campus project in 30 countries around the world, helping thousands of children and 200 local coaches every year. Inter Campus is present in the four above countries in two ways:

  • through the steady presence of its four partners: Polidesportivo Salesianos de Dom Bosco (Angola), Centre Sportif Camerounais (Cameroon), Alba Onlus (DRC) and St Joseph’s Primary School (Uganda);
  • through regular visits by the Italian staff, aimed at sharing experiences with the local partners and monitoring progress.

Inter Campus has developed a theoretical and practical didactic methodology to help its local social partners better achieve their specific goals through continuous sports activities with children (boys and girls) from 6 to 13 years. Inter Campus uses football as a tool to develop not only the children’s motor skills, but also the social, cognitive and emotional aspects of their behaviour. Sports is a means to promote education, health, development and peace.

African Black’n Blue: developing children’s resilience through education and football aims to promote knowledge exchange between the various actors, giving groups of local representatives the opportunity to meet each other and share their personal experiences. Through a number of travelling seminars, benefiting from the specific knowledge of every local partner and the social methodology Inter Campus has been using for many years, a boost will be given to local coaches’ skills and children’s personality development.

Despite a tough overall situation, one to three priority issues have been identified for each country:

  • Angola: Health improvement, sanitary protection and crime prevention
  • Cameroon: Ethnic integration and improvement of rural areas
  • DRC: Secondary prevention targeted at street children in rural areas
  • Uganda: Gender equality, education and entertainment

Objectives

The project’s goal is to help socially deprived children combat the problems they encounter in their everyday lives. This may be violence, poor sanitary conditions or nutritional deficiencies affecting their physical development. Working on and off the pitch, with a good network of partners and strong support from its local partners, Inter Campus hopes to alleviate these difficult conditions and create a virtuous circle from which future generations can benefit.

Inter Campus also pledges to respect the ten fundamental values and principles set out in the UN Global Compact and to promote sustainable solutions.

The project aims to:

  • promote children’s right to play by organising regular training sessions;
  • support education through leisure and sports activities;
  • support social and sanitary programmes;
  • ensure gender equality by encouraging the participation of girls;
  • develop a new football-related social methodology, closer to children’s local needs and local coaches’ on-the-pitch experience;
  • create a strong network among the four sub-Saharan countries involved to lower barriers and take advantage of cross-cultural capabilities.

Project activities

  • 16 one-week clinics and monitoring visits (four in each country)
  • Four transnational meetings, one in each country
  • Production of a specific methodology compendium based on both local partner knowledge and Inter Campus’ experience in terms of sports’ social power
  • Utilization of the above-mentioned methodology to foster children’s right to play, always focusing on education, development and health protection
  • A focus on gender equality, especially on female integration and equal access to sports opportunities
  • Football training sessions for every child, every week, benefiting around 1,500 children per year

Expected results

The direct beneficiaries of the project will be the local trainers involved in the staff exchanges (12). They will also be responsible for passing on the knowledge gained during the transnational meetings to their local colleagues (60) not having participated in these meetings. The indirect beneficiaries will be the boys and girls of Inter Campus Angola, Cameroon, Congo and Uganda, aged 6 to 13 years.

The number of children expected to indirectly benefit is 1,500, broken down as follows:

  • Angola (800)
  • Cameroon (200)
  • Uganda (250)
  • Congo (250)

Girls are expected to account for around 15% (250).

Partners

 

Just Play programme

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, India, New Zealand, American Samoa, Samoa
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 04/30/2020
Cost of the project € 600,000
Foundation funding € 200,000
Project identifier 2019615
Partners Oceania Football Confederation
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

Football is popular, accessible, and profound in its ability to connect people and places. Seen as an incredibly powerful platform, through which to facilitate the promotion of social change, football and sport for development programmes are recognised as a low-cost, high impact tool to supporting the achievement of global development priorities.

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) focuses on sport for development as part of its overall strategy to build stronger, healthier communities and address social issues affecting young people in the Pacific region.

The purpose of the Just Play programme is to reduce vulnerabilities to endemic social issues, such as the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD), gender inequality and social exclusion, by integrating social messages into sessions – for example, the importance of eating fruit and vegetables. The programme promotes the importance of regular physical activity and its impact on issues such as nutrition, disability and social inclusion, to enable positive social behaviour change.

Home to half a million children spread over 17.2 million square kilometres of ocean, children in the Pacific region face several significant challenges as they navigate their way through daily life.

Health and wellness – non-communicable diseases the leading cause of death

With obesity and diabetes on the rise, research indicates that only 18% of children in Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu attend regular physical education classes, with fewer than 20% of children in these countries playing for 60 minutes or more a day. More than 50% of children choose soft drinks instead of water, which contributes to weight gain. More than 25% of children present as overweight and obese as early as 13 years of age.

Gender equality and social inclusion – prevalence of discrimination and inequality

Children with disabilities experience discrimination, exclusion and social barriers, and girls are marginalised and face inequalities in education, decision-making processes and access to health services.

Child safeguarding – high levels of bullying and violence

Evidence shows that poverty, hunger and lack of access to services remain major challenges for children in the target countries. One in four children live below the poverty line and children are exposed to high levels of violence at home and at school. More than 45% of children aged 13–15 report being bullied; 27% have attempted suicide in the past 12 months; 12% report having no close friends; and 80% of children experience some form of direct violence or abuse.

Protection risk factors are high. More than 40% of children reportedly miss school and 35% of children report that their parents or guardians do not know what their offspring are doing or where they are during their free time.

With low levels of literacy and up to 30% of young people aged 15–24 years presenting as illiterate, employment opportunities are limited, resulting in high unemployment rates among young people in the region.

Emergency preparedness and response – high risk of natural disasters

Between 2009 and 2017, the Pacific region was affected by 44 natural disasters. Vanuatu and Fiji were hit by category 5 tropical cyclones in 2015 and 2016 that affected nearly one million people, including 450,000 children. Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu accounted for 30 of 44 natural disasters that struck the region, with children constituting on average between one third and one half of the people most severely affected.

With a focus on the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, the OFC’s sport for development activities were developed to help support and reinforce national capacities to deliver results for children and children’s rights throughout the Pacific region.

Through the provision of structured sport for development interventions, the OFC seeks to reduce risk factors associated with NCDs, child protection, gender and social inequality. These efforts were extended to humanitarian response with the success of the Just Play emergency programme.

Working with key delivery partners such as the Australian government, Football Federation Australia, the New Zealand government, UEFA Foundation for Children and UNICEF Pacific, the OFC seeks to build confidence in children and teenagers and provide access to quality sports activities, educational platforms, advocacy campaigns and public dialogue through active participation.

Project content

With a ball, a coach and a safe space to play, the Just Play programme delivers football in combination with life skills messages aimed to build stronger, healthier individuals, communities and nations by addressing social issues affecting children and teenagers in the Pacific and beyond.

Through the OFC’s Just Play programme children and adolescents are empowered to advocate for change, supporting the development of positive behaviour and the enhancement of resilience among their peers and community.

Objectives

Recognising that football for development programmes are designed to champion a learning through sport approach, the Just Play programme provides an ideal platform through which to enhance positive behaviour, develop fundamental life skills and promote action-oriented learning.

Whether it is a training session, fun activity, kick-about or competition, football provides a setting within which children and teenagers are forced to make hundreds of important decisions—where the consequences matter. With no two football drills, kick-abouts or matches ever the same, it provides children and young people with a variety of scenarios and contexts to learn from.

Project activities

Through engagement in the OFC’s four social responsibility programming streams: Just Play 6-12 year programme, Just Play 13-18 year programme, Just Play grassroots and the Just Play emergency programme, the programme helps to:

  • Reach children and teenagers who are most at risk, providing access to information on health and wellness; gender equality; social inclusion; child protection and safeguarding; clean water, sanitation and hygiene; emergency preparedness; and life skills;
  • Provide knowledge and skills, promoting positive behaviours and informed decision-making among children and teenagers;
  • Mobilise children and teenagers through advocacy campaigns at local, national and regional levels alongside major sporting events;
  • Leverage partner support to ensure a synergistic and coherent response among sports for development projects and programmes;
  • Create role models to promote and encourage positive behaviours and active, responsible civic engagement of children and teenagers;
  • Engage children and teenagers in internalising the link between football and healthy lifestyle choices;
  • Empower and engage girls, increasing opportunities and access to football, in addition to providing concrete links to management and leadership pathways within football;
  • Work with inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations that have direct and frequent contact with children, teenagers and communities, and who can create a supportive and structured environment for running football for development programmes;
  • Develop new partnerships to expand and enhance the delivery of football for development programmes – creating a blueprint to share and promote best practices.

Just Play in numbers

Just Play is supporting the upskilling of teachers and community volunteers to enable them to deliver programme activities that facilitate capacity building, ownership and accountability in social change through a community based, child-centred approach.

  • 317,004: The number of children and teenagers who have taken part in the Just Play programme across the Pacific region since 2009
  • 7,198: The number of teachers and community volunteers trained to deliver of the Just Play programme in the Pacific region since 2009
  • 17,390: Number of children and teenagers who have taken part in Just Play emergency programme festivals in the wake of a natural disaster in the Pacific region

Results

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) recognises that children who have a positive experience of sport early on are more likely to practise sport and physical activity throughout their lives.

The OFC also acknowledges that sport helps children and teenagers to develop life skills applicable both on and off the field of play.

 

Health and wellness

Before participating in Just Play: 52% of children chose to drink water instead of soda

After participating in Just Play programme: 82%

 

Gender equality

Before participating in Just Play  53% of boys reported that they enjoyed playing football with girls

After participating in Just Play programme : 72%

 

Social inclusion

Before participating in Just Play : 65% of children reported that they acknowledged and celebrated differenced

After participating in Just Play programme : 85%

 

Child protection

Before participating in Just Play : 24% of children reported that they felt safe in the wake of a natural disaster

After participating in Just Play programme : 59%

 

 

Just Play has a positive impact on children and teenagers through a sport-based curriculum that enables them to develop the life skills necessary to make consistent, long-term healthy lifestyle choices that promote health and wellness, gender equality, social inclusion and child protection, including in post- emergency contexts.

65% of teenagers report they now know how to set goals; 54% know how to make the goals SMART

98% of teenage boys in the Just Play programme see their coach as a positive role model

44% of coaches in the Just Play 13–18 year programme are women

71% of teenagers report they have someone they can talk to when they have a problem or need help

93% of teenagers report they now know what to do in a situation where they or someone they know is being bulled

 

 

 

Partner

Live match commentaries

Location and general information

Terminé
Location France
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 79,700
Foundation funding € 10,700
Project identifier 2019144
Partners Bel endroit pour une rencontre
Categories Personal development

Context

The ‘Bel endroit pour une rencontre’ association promotes an inclusive, fairer society where everyone belongs. In an effort to combat exclusion, the association provides young people of all ages with the opportunity to develop their full potential through various socio-cultural, educational and civic programmes, while respecting themselves, others and their environment.

The Live sport commentaries training to develop verbal and soft skills (“Raconte moi un match”) was a result of the following observations in young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods:

  • Poor verbal communication skills leading to difficulties interacting with friends, acquaintances, teachers and their social environment
  • Verbal or even physical aggression resulting from the frustration associated with difficulties in making themselves understood, understanding others and expressing their thoughts
  • Some young people limited to a language built around a divisive identity and the use of combative, violent speech
  • A lack of self-esteem and confidence in those at risk of dropping out of school
  • Higher exclusion and dropout rates

This was coupled with the following observations in relation to journalism:

  • A lack of (ethnic and gender) diversity in the media and in sports journalism in particular
  • Poor understanding of the principles of freedom of expression, freedom of the press and ethics in some young people

After three years setting up and testing the programme in Lyon, in 2018/2019 the association decided to see whether it could be replicated. It was rolled out in Lyon (five locations), Grenoble (three locations) and Marseille (one location). The results were resoundingly positive in terms of both the programme’s set-up and its impact on the beneficiaries.

All the beneficiaries are young people aged between 11 and 18 years in difficult circumstances:

  • living in disadvantaged urban areas and/or at risk of dropping out;
  • under court-ordered supervision and living in a juvenile detention centre; or
  • in a workforce integration or job seeking programme.

Project content

The association uses initiation to the commentary of men and women’s football as an educational tool to improve speaking skills. The participants learn to commentate men’s and women’s football matches like on radio. Their love of sports is used to engage them in the challenging task of improvised oral expression and sophisticated collaboration, which helps them develop their public speaking and life skills.

Objectives

The ‘Bel endroit pour une rencontre’ association aims to:

  • continue to roll out the project, increasing the number of beneficiaries from 57 in 2018/2019 to 110 in 2019/2020;
  • work on two of the main components to ensure the longevity of the project:
    • reduce the hourly cost by training volunteers to deliver some of the sessions and develop skills-based sponsorship,
    • develop profitable activities sponsored by companies;
  • expand its activity throughout France, including Grenoble, Marseille, Toulouse, Nantes and Saint-Étienne;
  • adapt the programme to sports other than football, such as and basketball;
  • establish its presence in schools in disadvantaged neighbourhoods through academic achievement programmes and develop sports news-related programmes;
  • set up new partnerships or sponsorships and strengthen existing partnerships;
  • develop volunteering.

Project activities

  • Radio match commentaries in tandem
  • 14-hour workshops for up to eight children, delivered by professional journalists and actors
  • Public performances in front of juries and mentors, with prizes awarded

 

Expected results

In addition to expanding (from 57 to 110 beneficiaries), the project hopes to support its beneficiaries in a variety of ways, to improve their chances of social success.

  • Oral expression: vocabulary, precision of expression, syntax, elocution, public speaking, selecting and prioritising information, analysis and synthesis
  • Social skills: concentration, assertiveness, self-confidence, overcoming personal limits, listening, posture, body language and self-awareness
  • Living together and citizenship: cooperation, respect, mutual support, commitment, knowledge of the media, critical analysis and ethics in journalism and sports
  • Equal opportunities and inclusion: developing young people with educational difficulties, bringing neighbourhoods together, social and intellectual openness and breaking down barriers to professions

Partner

The game is worth it

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Sri Lanka
Start date 01/31/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 35,000
Foundation funding € 20,000
Project identifier 2019009
Partners C.I.E.LO - Coopération internationale pour les équilibres locaux
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

For three decades, ending in 2009, Sri Lanka endured a civil war between its government, dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist majority (70% of the population), and the separatist organisation known as the Tamil Tigers, who practise Hinduism (20%) and Islam (10%). According to the UN, between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed during this armed conflict, with more than 150,000 reported missing. The war mainly affected the country’s northern and eastern provinces, where the separatists wanted to create an independent state. Furthermore, in December 2004, the country was among those most severely affected by a tsunami that killed 31,000 people and hit its eastern province very hard. More recently, in April 2019, Sri Lanka suffered seven bomb attacks against the Christian community and tourists, which were attributed to the Islamic State and killed 253 people. The situation in the country remains tense, in particular on account of reprisals against the Muslim community by radical religious groups.

In this context, following an initial fact-finding visit in September 2016, cooperation between C.I.E.LO and its local partner, the Sri Lankan association RECDO, began with the creation of a toy library. Subsequent projects involved renovating and equipping a rural nursery school set up by parents themselves without state assistance, and building 15 homes with toilets for families living below the poverty line in rural areas.

Project content

The sports-related part of the project involves the construction of a sand and grass pitch on a piece of land next to the new toy library building, where outdoor games (racquet-based and ball games, skittles, quoits, etc.) and team sports such as cricket, which is Sri Lanka’s national sport, table tennis, football and volleyball, can be played. It will also include the purchase of games and sports equipment required to play these sports.

Objectives

  • Enhance the general facilities and improve conditions for playing games and sports at the toy library.
  • Make the toy library more attractive and increase visitor numbers.
  • Widen the choice of games by purchasing new games and equipment for four different sports.
  • Support the local economy by employing local craftspeople.
  • Help to promote and extend the activities of the RECDO association, partner of C.I.E.LO.

 

Project activities

The project will significantly improve the quality of the toy library thanks to the purchase of 100 new games to be added to the current collection, which will generate interest among users who frequently ask for new games to discover. It will also fund the acquisition of equipment for four different sports: cricket (Sri Lanka’s national sport), table tennis, volleyball and football. Five wooden tables, chairs and shelves will also be purchased so the toy library can accommodate more children in better conditions.

Expected results

With around 300 games in its collection, the toy library will become one of the best equipped C.I.E.LO toy libraries. These games are carefully selected and arranged in accordance with the international ESAR classification system, which is mainly based on the work of Jean Piaget and focuses on several types of childhood learning:

  • Exercise-based games stimulate the senses and motor skills of very young children (rattles, music boxes, play mats, pull-along toys).
  • Symbolic games promote creativity, imagination and fantasy (puppets, tea sets, toy cars, musical instruments, doctor’s kits, tool kits).
  • Assembly games stimulate logical thinking and an understanding of social behaviour, as well as more complex strategic thinking (Connect 4, bingo, board games, memory games).
  • Traditional games will also be well represented and additional furniture will be provided to enable children to develop their skills in better conditions, with shelves and transparent boxes to store games securely, tables, chairs, mats.

Partner

Mine Risk Education

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Cambodia
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 238,150
Foundation funding € 114,833
Project identifier 2019534
Partners Spirit of Soccer
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

Cambodia is one of the countries most affected by landmines anywhere  in the world. An estimated 4 to 6 million landmines and cluster bombs and other unexploded ordnance were left behind after nearly three decades of war ending in 1998. Children, particularly those in rural areas, are in particular danger because they are most likely to be unaware of the risks of playing in or traversing hazardous areas.

In Cambodia, children account for up to 50% of landmine casualties, according to the Cambodian Red Cross. Children are far more likely to die from landmine injuries than adults, with an estimated 85% of child victims dying before reaching the hospital.

Landmines also cause gut-wrenching injuries: children may lose their sight or hearing; lose fingers, toes and limbs; or suffer injuries to their genitals. They also suffer psychologically from the trauma of a landmine injury. Without adequate medical treatment, children injured by landmines are often pulled out of school. They face limited future prospects for education and employment and are often perceived as a burden to their families.

Clearing mined areas is expensive, time consuming and complicated when climate, displacement and economic necessity drive people into contaminated areas. The most efficient way to tackle the problem is to make sure children are educated about the types of weapons present in their community and how to avoid them. However, there is a lack of effective mine risk education in Cambodia meaning children lack the knowledge needed to stay safe.

Project content

Spirit of Soccer's mission is to use football to educate children living in conflict and post-conflict regions about the dangers of landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and other explosive remnants of war. It educates, trains and employs local football coaches and teachers. They are taught how to deliver its curriculum, which uses easy-to-understand football-related lessons to teach children how to identify and avoid specific threats posed by explosive remnants of war in their communities. The approach is culturally sensitive and adapted to local cultural, religious and social needs. The focus is on a fun, safe environment that is inclusive to all and provides healthy physical activity, hope and happiness.

Through its work, Spirit of Soccer addresses Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace Justice and Strong Institutions, with a specific focus on Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.

Objectives

The project aims to deliver mine risk education to approximately 12,000 Cambodian children through football/MRE clinics and MRE tournaments and a further 24,000 Cambodian children through a multimedia campaign involving the distribution of posters and school notebooks. Spirit of Soccer will provide all services and materials, including:

  • an MRE curriculum to be delivered by (locally trained and recruited) Spirit of Soccer coaches to 12,000 at-risk Cambodian children, with the assistance of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) and the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA);
  • distribution of 500 footballs featuring mine education messages;
  • training of 20 teachers – through a coaching/MRE course and workshop based on the Spirit of Soccer’s football/MRE curriculum – who will promote MRE messages in their local communities;
  • distribution of 10,000 school notebooks featuring world-renowned football stars endorsing safe behaviours for schoolchildren to follow should they encounter mines or explosive remnants of war.

Project activities

  • Coaches and teachers trained to be mine risk educators
  • Mine risk education delivered directly to children in at-risk communities through educational football clinics
  • Regular mine risk education festivals to expand the indirect reach to the wider community

Expected results

The project aims to achieve a 75% or higher favourable response to certain key indicators about mine safety knowledge as tracked by its M&E system to demonstrate the effectiveness of the football programme as a vehicle for mine risk education.

Partner

Synthetic sports field

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Romania
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 38,000
Foundation funding € 33,000
Project identifier 2019179
Partners Luncşoara Bihorului Association
Categories Access to Sport

Context

Luncşoara Bihorului Association is active in Luncşoara village in western Romania. Over the years, it has dedicated time, resources and passion to help the local community and especially to provide the basis for the healthy growth and development of children. The association has already carried out three different projects in the village.

Project content

The association is the owner of the ground (924m2), which was bought in 2014 thanks to numerous donations. It comprises a synthetic sports field, fences and floodlights. Luncşoara secondary school is a key partner in this project.

Objectives

  • Build a synthetic sports field
  • Install surrounding fences
  • Install floodlights
  • Set up other infrastructures

Project activities

This sports field is an alternative way for the younger generations and pupils of the local school to spend their free time, and is conveniently located next to the school. As this is a rural area, the children do not have many other options for spending their free time, so this football pitch and sports area will help the integration of the community and give a chance to the children to practise football and other sports, such as handball, tennis and running.

Being located in a rural area, the sports field is meant to be an opening towards nature. The children will be involved in keeping the ground clean and watering the plants.

Expected results

Between 300 and 1,000 people, mainly children, will benefit from the project in the village and the surrounding area.

Official website : Luncşoara Bihorului Association

Partner : Luncşoara Bihorului Association

Football for development

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Czech Republic
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 154,500
Foundation funding € 65,909
Project identifier 2019630
Partners INEX – Association for Voluntary Activities
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

INEX – Association for Voluntary Activities – is an NGO founded in 1991 whose primary activities are centred around the areas of international voluntary work and intercultural education.

INEX believes that volunteering and cooperation on a local and global level help to promote mutual understanding and non-violence. It creates opportunities for people to actively participate in society in order to gain knowledge and experience, and to develop their personal, civic and professional lives.

Its flagship project Football for Development engages young people through football-based informal educational activities. The project is run in various urban environments in the Czech Republic (in the regions of Prague, Usti nad Labem, Pilsen, Ostrava and Karlovy Vary), where INEX teams up with low-threshold clubs, social services, youth clubs, leisure centres, orphanages and youth detention centres.

The target group comprises children and teenagers who are at risk of social exclusion or discrimination due to their ethnic or disadvantaged social background. The beneficiaries also include disabled children and orphans. Thanks to the work of these organisations, the children and teenagers enjoy a safe space for social interaction and personal development.

The project aims to help these youngsters re-engage with society and develop the skills they need to be active. Experience shows that regular planned sports activities are effective in this regard. Football is a learning and preventive tool that uses rules and other methods to resolve conflicts without violence.

Football for Development in the Czech Republic has been running for almost 15 years, over which time it has developed a network of partners at national and international levels and represented the Czech Republic at many international events.

UEFA Foundation is supporting this project for the second year in a row.

 

Project content

Football for Development uses the Football3 concept*, which was devised by streetfootballworld and is based on the principle that fair play, inclusion and mutual respect are at least as important as the sports competition itself. Fair play includes the development of social values such as teamwork, discussion and mutual understanding. Another important aim of the concept is to develop participants’ ability to create rules and then adhere to them.

Football for Development also uses the Football for Good methodology, which is based on so-called ‘integration football drills’. These drills are linked to football training sessions and cover different social topics (e.g. drug abuse, violence, vandalism, racism) and life skills (e.g. communication, teamwork, respect, leadership skills, rules, non-violent conflict resolution) that can be used on a day-to-day basis.

[*Football3 is a methodology used by the streetfootballworld network to harness the educational potential of street football by ensuring that dialogue and fair play are integral to the game. Its overall objective is to promote life skills and empower young people to become leaders. The emphasis is on resolving conflict through dialogue.]

Objectives

  • To further develop the association’s activities in the Czech Republic and beyond, using football as a tool for education and development
  • To organise football leagues, tournaments and cultural events where people from different backgrounds can meet
  • To recruit and train youth workers and social workers to ensure the long-term stability of project
  • To deliver proper methodology and ensure a multiplier effect
  • To use training sessions and educational programmes for young people who are hard to reach with conventional training opportunities
  • To teach skills such as self-confidence, teamwork, leadership, resilience, conflict management and respect for gender equality
  • To raise the project’s public profile by organising ‘fair play days’ and increase social cohesion at different levels of society

Expected results

  • Equip grassroots organisations and projects in target communities
  • Increase self-confidence and reduce the risk of gender-based violence
  • Provide easy access for members of the target group, who usually come from difficult backgrounds
  • Provide a safe space and low-threshold access that ensures stability and continuity of participation
  • Increase the number of coaches and social workers in order to broaden the scale of the programme
  • Organise events such as fair-play league matchdays, fair-play football days, national youth gatherings, fair-play football league finals, training workshops for social workers and educational football training for children
  • Raise public awareness of social cohesion

Partner

Showing exclusion the red card

Location and general information

Closed
Location Burkina Faso
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project € 555,940
Foundation funding € 175,000
Project identifier 2019824
Partners Samusocial International
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Samusocial International has been helping its partner, Samusocial Burkina Faso, to develop adapted care for street children in Ouagadougou, since it was created in 2003. These children run away from dysfunctional, often violent families and are left to fend for themselves as there is a lack of public protection for vulnerable children. Without family protection, street children are deprived of their basic rights and exposed to violence. To survive in this context, they develop self-protection measures but also gradually suffer desocialisation, which results in altered perceptions of themselves, of time and space, and losing any confidence in society in general. Struggling every day to find ways to survive, often suffering from violence and abuse, they lose any sense of belonging to humanity as a community and seek refuge in themselves. Offering them a way off the street therefore involves recreating social bonds and helping them to regain trust in others.

Project content

To fight against social exclusion of street children in Ouagadougou, Samusocial Burkina Faso has developed various services, including mobile teams carrying out street rounds, an emergency shelter, and a day-care centre. It also supports its partners in building and consolidating a continuum of care, including assisting street children and teenagers wanting to leave the street.

To complete the support for street children, Samusocial International will help Samusocial Burkina Faso to develop sports activities as a key tool to rehabilitate these very damaged children. Sport has always been part of the activities offered, particularly in the Samusocial shelter; however, these activities were considered mostly occupational and not exploited for their educational and resocialisation potential. The project will enable Samusocial Burkina Faso’s beneficiaries to:

  • facilitate social integration through sports activities;
  • develop life skills through sports activities, such as a sense of responsibility, respect, fair-play and team spirit, communication, trust.

 

Objectives

Objective: Contributing to the social inclusion of street children in Burkina Faso, using sport as an adapted tool for their specific needs

Specific objectives: Teaching the children to take responsibility for their actions, treat others fairly, value communication and mutual respect, through sports activities

Project activities

  • Activity 1: Introducing professionals to the sport-based project methodology in working and training sessions
  • Activity 2: Carrying out street rounds five nights a week, to identify at-risk children and teenagers, offer them medical care, psychosocial support, awareness and educational activities, and refer them for day-care activities or for shelter.
  • Activity 3: Providing day-care services for street children and teenagers, five mornings a week, including participation in resocialisation activities through sport
  • Activity 4: Providing shelter and all related support and activities for children who need a rest off the street or who are ready to initiate a stabilisation process, including the creation of a football team
  • Activity 5: Developing a football cup for Samusocial children and other children (girls and boys) supported by partner organisations
  • Activity 6: Supporting and following up on children who are ready for a long-term solution off the street

Expected results

  • 500 street children provided with sports activities as resocialisation and educational tools each year
  • 700 street children (including 100 girls) benefiting from social and medical care each year
  • 235 street rounds carried out each year
  • 14 professionals working for SSBF and its partners trained to apply the sports-based project methodology
  • 2,000 children given access to the day-care centre every year
  • 120 children provided with shelter every year
  • 180 children in the football team
  • 2 football cup tournaments organised
  • 50 children helped to leave the streets, go back to school, move into a long-term partner centre, return to live in their families

 

Partner

Success Packages

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Ukraine
Start date 01/31/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 150,000
Foundation funding € 100,00
Project identifier 2019021
Partners Klitschko Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Many young people in Ukraine live in economically disadvantaged communities. Schools cannot always afford to supply their pupils with adequate equipment. As a result, children are not motivated to practise sport, which is so important to a child’s health and character. This is not only due to the lack of new and good-quality equipment, but also outdated types of games and teaching methods. PE teachers are unable to improve their skills through new innovative teaching methods and so cannot provide the children with the best education.

To meet these needs, in 2013 the Klitschko Foundation created a project called Success Packages, whose mission it is to provide all children in Ukraine with access to sport and turn their PE teachers into role models and mentors. Thanks to the project, children and teachers should realise that they can be the driving force in their communities.

Project content

The project comprises three days of training for PE teachers in the form of lectures by famous and experienced speakers that share their knowledge in the fields of:

  1. Self-identification and self-esteem through sport
  2. Learning values and applying them throughout life
  3. Nutrition and hygiene
  4. Active and healthy lifestyle choices
  5. Understanding human rights through sport
  6. Civic and moral education
  7. Supporting the delicate transition to the independence of adulthood
  8. Excursions to sports museums and sports complexes
  9. Reflections about the day – participants have a chance to share their emotions, impressions and ideas about the project

Since the project participants work in sport and education, this experience will be useful not only because of the opportunity to gain new knowledge, but also because they will be able to communicate with colleagues and like-minded people, share their own experiences, discuss innovative learning approaches and suggest new techniques.

Objectives

  • Motivate pupils to practise sport
  • Present opportunities that exist regardless of socioeconomic status
  • Break down old stereotypes about sport at school and create a new vision
  • Help PE teachers develop and promote different sports
  • Inspire teachers to be a coach and mentor for pupils
  • Motivate PE teachers to believe that they can create social change
  • Enhance the image of PE teachers as a profession

Project activities

Stage 1 Application and selection

The sports teachers and their pupils are asked to get creative and shoot a three-minute video about their usual sporting activities in school and the conditions surrounding them. The selection criteria are clear motivation, readiness to implement changes in their local community and compliance of the team with the project requirements.

Stage 2 Training programme

The PE teachers take part in a three-day workshop designed to teach them innovative methodology and educational tools as well as raise important topics for young people.

Stage 3 Local projects

When the teachers return to their communities, they share the skills and knowledge they have acquired by implementing the local project for pupils at their school, encompassing the educational and sports aspects. Teachers try themselves out in the new roles as managers of the local projects. They communicate with potential sponsors, media, and the school administration. In this way, they become an active part of the local community.

Stage 4 Delivering the success packages

After the successful execution of the local projects, 360 schools receive the success packages comprising sports equipment for various physical exercises that will make lessons exciting and diverse.

Expected results

  • 360 PE teachers from all over Ukraine will attend, in six cycles each consisting of 60 people in order to develop teamwork and effective communication among themselves.
  • The participants will receive lectures from professional coaches and workers in the field of sports and physical culture.
  • The participants will have the opportunity to gain new knowledge, communicate with colleagues and like-minded people, share their own experiences, discuss innovative learning approaches and proposed methods.
  • Participants will learn about proper nutrition, hygiene and healthy, active lifestyles.
  • Participants will understand how sport helps to boost self-esteem, overcome conflicts and problematic situations and promote self-determination for young people.
  • Participants will hold 360 training sessions involving more than 25,000 children and teenagers.

Partner

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