First Aid Project

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Ukraine
Start date 01/15/2023
End date 12/30/2023
Cost of the project €90,000,00
Foundation funding €70,000,00
Project identifier 20221155
Partners Charitable Foundation Klitschko Foundation
Categories Conflict victims - Infrastructure and equipment - Strengthening partnerships

Context

According to the UN and the Prosecutor General's Office, 6,755 civilians have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, including 424 children. This number is constantly increasing due to daily rocket and artillery attacks on civilian objects by Russian forces. A large proportion of deaths are a result of the delayed or insufficient provision of first aid. According to research, up to 54% of injured individuals could be saved by relatively simple actions such as stopping bleeding. We work specifically with teachers, since they spend a significant amount of time with children throughout the day but only a small percentage of them know first aid.

Project goals

  • Create a safe school environment
  • Train teachers and students in first aid and safety during a war
  • Provide schools with first-aid kits
  • Promote awareness in society of the importance of those who work with children being able to administer pre-medical care

Project content

Thirty two-day training courses delivered in general education and sports schools over three months. Thirty participants from 100 schools will take part in each training course. During the project, we will educate 900 teachers and coaches in first aid.

Provision of first aid-kits to 100 schools.

Certificates of completion for all participants of the first aid course, who will have acquired the skills to deliver pre-medical care classes to school students.

Partner

Tackling the Blues

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Merseyside, Liverpool - England
Start date 02/01/2023
End date 02/01/2024
Cost of the project €160,821
Foundation funding €88,836
Project identifier 20220531
Partners Everton in the Community
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

Inequality is a serious problem in severely deprived areas where people are exposed to multiple risk factors, including mental illness, adverse childhood experiences and limited opportunities. Liverpool is the third most health-deprived area in England. Children and young people frequently have to wait a long time for treatment and a high proportion of youngsters with mental health issues do not receive any treatment at all.

The Tackling the Blues project seeks to address the complex social determinants and inequalities associated with mental health and illness. This is done by applying mechanisms for social inclusion and equity, namely by providing local schools with services that they would not otherwise have access to.

The project develops the youngsters’ knowledge and understanding of positive mental health strategies and resilience, which may render intervention by mental health services unnecessary. An external review by RealWorth calculated that Tackling the Blues had a societal value of £7,354,000, which suggests that it is having a significant impact for its beneficiaries.

Project goals

- Reduce inequalities and support children and young people in severely deprived areas by offering insight into the importance of positive mental health

- Support schools in the introduction of a whole-school approach to mental health

- Provide inclusive activities for children and young people, such as art, sport and education

- Adopt a mentoring approach to help pupils into full-time employment

Project content

- Weekly sessions will be delivered in the top 10% of Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) where deprivation is a serious problem and access to sport is limited.

- The project helps schools introduce a whole-school approach to mental health. Consultation with partner schools identifies relevant issues and how the project can offer support.

- Sport, art and education promote significant benefits for children’s mental and physical health. These activities will be major deliverables throughout the Tackling the Blues project.

- The project will provide students at Edge Hill University with opportunities for knowledge exchange so that they can improve skills and experience in planning and implementing mental health projects based on sport, art and education.

Partners

Creating life Champions

Location and general information

Closed
Location Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Croatia
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 11/30/2023
Cost of the project €317,800,00
Foundation funding €150,000,00
Project identifier 20220331
Partners Development Center for Youth
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

Commercialisation of sport has led to a reduction in its educational role. Instead of using sport to educate and promote healthy lifestyles and positive social values, the focus is on top performance. There is also an increase in negative phenomena in and around sport, directly linked to the widespread crisis of social and moral values.

Not all young sportsmen/sportswomen will become top athletes, but they should all strive to be top people. Children go to school because they have to and do sports because they want to, which illustrates the relevance of sport during childhood.

Project goals

The aim is to revitalise the educational role of football, utilising the coaches’ influence and contributing to the youngsters’ upbringing. The training module teaches coaches how to introduce other topics of relevance to everyday life in their sessions, to help the youngsters become open-minded, free-thinking and active citizens, i.e. use football to turn them into life champions.

In the first stage, its specific objectives will be as follows:

-  Set the framework for proper usage of non-formal educationthrough sport: develop a curriculum with three areas of intervention – for coaches, youngsters and parents; capacity building

- Test the model of educational work in sport directly on 2,000 children, to make it a replicable tool for other age categories/countries/disciplines

- Present the Life Champions concept to more than 2,000,000 people through an extensive Creating Life Champions campaign

Project content

The project will comprise a number of activities with different formats, starting from developing educational modules for three main target groups (youngsters, coaches and parents). It will include six regional info days in the countries involved, to present the concept and approach and invite the coaches and youngsters to apply for the summer camps.

Thirty coaches from all over the region will be selected for training. Preference is given to the coaches who use the knowledge and skills they have gained at summer camps run by famous players Dejan Stankovic (DEKI5) and Goran Pandev (Pandev Academy) or in their regular coaching activities. The focus is on those from disadvantaged groups.

An extensive media campaign will be run to reach at least 2 million people, underlining the Life Champions messages, with famous athletes as its main ambassadors.

The project will end with a major international conference to present the main results and the advantages of this new working model in sports, to promote the utilisation of sport in educating new generations.

Partners

Junior Camp

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Poland
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 12/01/2023
Cost of the project €105,000
Foundation funding €50,000
Project identifier 20220904
Partners European Amputee Football Federation
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

The benefits of participating in sport for children are universal. In many countries, disabled children have limited access to sport even though it is their basic human right. Providing children with the opportunity to participate in a range of physical activities improves their well-being, enables them to socialise with their peers, develops social skills and enhances mental and physical health. It is important to reduce the inequalities that disabled children face as much as possible.

Project goals

- Offer equal access to sport

- Increase skill levels

- Disseminate the concept of junior amputee football

- Provide cultural exchanges for children, parents and coaches

- Develop new junior projects in the participating countries

- Increase participation in physical activities

- Increase the number of girls involved in sport

Project content

Junior Camp is a training camp for children, aged 5–16, with unilateral amputations or limb defects. Participants from all over Europe and further afield attend Junior Camp and are afforded the opportunity to play football, speak the universal language of sport and develop new skills. It is also a chance for coaches to exchange knowledge and consider developing subsequent programmes. In addition, the camp gives parents the opportunity to strengthen their bonds with their children.

Partner

The Neighbourhood League

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Jerusalem, Israel
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 12/01/2023
Cost of the project €427,900
Foundation funding €120,000
Project identifier 20220404
Partners Katamon Moadon Ohadim
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

Hapoel Jerusalem projects take place in the Greater Jerusalem area. Jerusalem is a highly sensitive, complex arena in terms of the political, ethnic, religious and geographical contexts. It is an almost impossible mosaic of communities and faiths, attracting people from all over the world. Jerusalem suffers from severe violence, animosity and friction with hardly any positive contact between the various communities. Jerusalem is the poorest city in Israel and as a result, Hapoel Jerusalem places a great deal of emphasis on including all children from all backgrounds and on creating equal opportunities for all.

Project goals

- Bringing together children from different religions, nationalities and backgrounds, in order to break down barriers and remove stigmas

- Using football to promote values such as tolerance, anti-violence and anti-racism

- Giving children from underprivileged backgrounds a better education and high-quality sports activities

- Promoting women’s football in Jerusalem

Project content

- Enrol 550 Jewish and Arabic boys and girls in after-school learning centres

- 24 mixed and cross-cultural activities throughout the year for Neighbourhood League participants

- Include at least 10% of participants’ parents in activities

- At least 300 children complete 16 hours of conflict resolution workshops and tournaments

- The participants’ families, schools and communities will also be involved in this unique enterprise for social change, with the aim of humanising the other communities and learning that, just like them, people on the other side of the social divide are seeking peaceful lives for themselves and their families.

Partners

Football versus Discrimination

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Ireland
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €108,000,00
Foundation funding €54,000,00
Project identifier 20221197
Partners Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

Ireland has been under international scrutiny as a country that is failing to meet its international human rights obligations to tackle racism and discrimination. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Council of Europe and the Irish Network Against Racism have all highlighted Ireland’s shortcomings: the country has an above-average number of incidents of discrimination and racist violence.

Project goals

  • Increase mutual understanding between children and young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds
  • Help combat racism and xenophobia
  • Promote the integration of immigrants into Irish schools and society
  • Promote gender equality in sport and society
  • Introduce children to the concept of human rights

Project content

Football versus Discrimination is a 75-minute interactive workshop using football as a tool to address issues of discrimination such as racism, sexism, ableism and homophobia.

  • Children learn about forms of discrimination by playing football.
  • Role-playing games are used to identify and experience how it feels to discriminate and to be discriminated against.
  • Games of fair play football (football3) are played in which participants take responsibility for their own actions. There are no referees and players are encouraged to set their own rules and resolve disagreements through dialogue.
  • In the days following the workshop, participants complete an in-class questionnaire reflecting on what they have learned.

Partner

League of Fair-Play Football

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Prague, Usti nad Labem, Pilsen, Olomouc, Karlovy Vary, Brno, Liberec - Czechia
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 12/31/2024
Cost of the project €236,164
Foundation funding €50,000
Project identifier 20220231
Partners INEX association for voluntary activities
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

Recent reports have shown that there are significant inequalities in access to a decent education in Czechia. These inequalities only grew during the COVID-19 pandemic as the result of extended school closures and a lack of support and access to online technologies at home, e.g. parental illiteracy, lack of access to computers and a reliable internet connection. The region of Czechia where a child is born plays a major role in their future success. In regions with a high poverty rate, children are less likely to receive a good education and enrol on after-school programmes. They often have to deal with youth and parental violence, petty crime, addiction, poor health, mental stress, discrimination and financial pressure. Our project targets children in these regions with an approach that combines the health benefits of football with educational added value.

Project goals

  1. Increase free, meaningful, healthy access to sports activities and facilities for children who can’t afford it
  2. Increase social cohesion among young people who face social isolation
  3. Improve the sense of achievement and success among children who are discriminated against and who are accustomed to experiencing failure
  4. Address deficiencies in the quality of education of children living in disadvantaged regions of Czechia
  5. Provide vulnerable children with a meaningful after-school programme focused on their development

Project content

This project introduces the League of Fair-Play Football (LFF) to various regions of Czechia. The league offers a platform for positive socialisation through a year of activities for children who lack access to quality education and sports activities. LFF uses football to attract, motivate, empower and develop young people who are exposed to social failure due to their economic status, family situation, social environment or ethnic background. LFF provides children with an opportunity for constructive emancipation in an inclusive, safe, mentored environment, free of any charge.

Partners

Youth Sports Games 2023

Location and general information

Closed
Location Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Serbia
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €6,328,380,00
Foundation funding €100,000,00
Project identifier 20220707
Partners Association for Sport, Recreation and Education – Youth Games
Categories Access to Sport - Environmental protection - Gender Equality

Context

The Youth Sports Games were launched in Split, Croatia, in 1996. The primary motive was to enable children to take part in organised sporting events and other free activities. The Youth Sports Games have since become the largest amateur sports event for children and young people in Europe. More than 2.5 million children have competed in the 26 years since they began.

The games are held in three countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. Children of primary and secondary school ages compete in ten sports free of charge, and the most successful individuals and teams get to travel to Split to take part in the international finals.

In addition to the games, the association organises regular sports and recreational activities for children to encourage health, tolerance and ethical values. The association promotes a lifestyle based on understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair play as an alternative to addiction and delinquency.

Project goals

The association aims to:

- Bring children and young people together for sport and recreation

- Cultivate a positive atmosphere among children and young people;

- Encourage sport and friendship as an alternative to addiction and delinquency, thereby rationalising health and social programmes

- Promote educational activities and deliver a modern, up-to-date message to, and by, young people

In 2023, 220,000 participants are expected from the three countries. Football will have 110,000 players.

The goals for 2023 include the expansion of activities to over 300 municipalities with 15,000 female footballers. National finals in the three countries will be attended by 6,000 participants each, while 1,500 young people will compete in the international finals for which all expenses are covered – accommodation, travel and competition costs.

Project content

Sport is used as a medium to connect the participants, aged 7–18, through tournaments held in over 300 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The Youth Sports Games advocate a healthy lifestyle and promote all ten sports (football, street basketball, handball, volleyball, beach volleyball, tennis, table tennis, chess, dodgeball and athletics), as well as educating the children about sustainability. Emphasis is placed on organising football tournaments for girls with a participation target of 15,000 young female footballers in the three countries.

Partner

OM workbook

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Marseille, France
Start date 07/01/2022
End date 06/30/2023
Cost of the project €50,000
Foundation funding €50,000
Project identifier 20220270
Partners OM Fondation
Categories Personal development

Context

Marseille is a city noted for its significant social inequalities and high dropout rate among school pupils.

Project goals

  1.  Offer unique, high-quality support to all 9-10 year-old schoolchildren in Marseille and their teachers
  2. Counter the school dropout rate by harnessing the image and attractiveness of Olympique de Marseille football club, making use of the club’s infrastructure and involving the players
  3. Develop a sense of belonging to a broader community
  4. Create an appetite for doing sport by employing innovative techniques
  5. Promote the values of sport and social cohesion
  6. Promote diversity through the use of illustrations showing girl and boy characters

Project content

The Cahier des Olympiens project offers an effective, innovative way to combat these problems by providing a freely available, high-quality, fun workbook. On the recommendation of the Académie d'Aix-Marseille (a project partner), the workbook focuses on a pivotal year in children’s education: CM1, the start of the third cycle of the French education system (ages 9–11). It is at these ages that initial problems often arise.

The book can be used in class at the teacher’s request or at home, including during holidays, especially by families who could not afford to purchase these materials.

The book presents a wealth of valuable content. Numerous references to Olympique de Marseille (illustrations, photos, exercises, etc.) reinforce the publication’s attractiveness and usefulness.

Not only does the project distribute the extracurricular workbook to all Marseille’s state and private schools at the start of the school year, it also reinforces the teaching tool through meetings and constructive exchanges with professional players throughout the season in video conferences in which a player meets a class to encourage work on oral expression. The close links between the club and schools make the workbook highly attractive to students and more likely to be used properly.

Partners

Deporte por Refugio – Sport as Shelter

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Sevilla, Spain
Start date 02/15/2023
End date 02/15/2024
Cost of the project €300,177,08
Foundation funding €203,165,00
Project identifier 20220760
Partners Fundación Grande Valores
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

Four of the ten poorest districts in Spain are located in the city of Seville, with 38.6% of the children at risk or enduring alarming levels of poverty and social exclusion. In addition, a significant migrant population is concentrated in these districts and faces problems of exclusion and segregation. This situation, along with inequality and unemployment, causes various family problems that have a major impact on childhood education and development.

Project goals

  1. Promote the inclusion, education and well-being of children and young people from refugee backgrounds and local communities in Seville.
  • Increase children's sense of belonging and participation in the community
  • Reduce children's gender and intercultural prejudices
  • Train young refugees in Sport for Development methodology
  • Build resilience by teaching children about life skills
  1. Raise awareness about the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations through sports in schools.

Project content

The Deporte por Refugio project had a great impact in its first year. Now, in this second year, the mission is to promote the well-being and inclusion of children, young people and families in vulnerable communities and with migrant and refugee backgrounds in Seville. The message that we want to deliver to society through this project is that football can transform the lives and prospects of children and refugees. The project is supported by UNCHR, UNICEF, the Spanish Government and the Seville city authorities.

Partner

Blind Solidarity

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Bamako, Mali
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €60,000
Foundation funding €45000
Project identifier 20220995
Partners Libre Vue and Union Malienne des Aveugles
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Employability - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

The Institut des Jeunes Aveugles in Bamako is a school for 250 children with visual impairments who live and pursue their studies in very precarious conditions. Libre Vue has delivered its blind football programme to these children since 2012. The programme consists of football adapted to visually impaired players, thereby promoting access to sport and contributing to personal development, health and inclusion.

Project goals

Our goal is to offer high-quality coaching, motivate even more young people and train coaches, guides and educators. We want to create a policy that promotes access to blind football for girls and offers them significant practice sessions. We also want to set up a sports canteen. In order to better communicate and sell artistic photographs (a source of funding for Libre Vue) we need to update our promotional film and organise new exhibitions.

Project content

Organise local and international training.

Create a ‘women's’ policy with the staff and players with regards to families and the school.

Install a canteen/bar next to the pitch (renovate old changing room hut).

Create images: produce (local) videos to update our promotional film, take photographs, organise new exhibitions, provide prints for our online Solidarity Boutique and produce impactful communication materials.

Partner

Sports facilities for children and young people

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Switzerland
Start date 01/01/2023
End date Ongoing
Cost of the project €6,489,800
Foundation funding €60,000
Project identifier 20220216
Partners Fondation IdéeSport
Categories Access to Sport - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

The projects promoted by Fondation IdéeSport respond to three alarming realities of modern life experienced by children, teenagers and families: physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles, the excessive use of social media, and the difficulty and expense of accessing sports facilities. The healthy development of young people is dependent on opportunities to play sport. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its lockdowns and closures of sports facilities, has heightened the urgency of the situation.

Project goals

The project focuses on children and teenagers from all social backgrounds, irrespective of their gender, social status, ethnic origin or sporting skills. The programmes are offered free of charge and actively contribute to integrating children and young people, especially those who have experienced migration. Sport is used as a way to promote health and an active lifestyle and also prevent addiction while working towards set objectives.

Project content

Fondation IdéeSport promotes healthy lifestyles for children and teenagers through its three programmes, offering places to socialise and weekend activities at community sports facilities. The foundation’s projects are aimed at all ages, with MidnightSports and EverFresh programmes for teenagers, OpenSunday for primary-age children and MiniMove for young children accompanied by their parents.

Partners

Sport for Inclusion: Football Against Racism

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Tunis, Sousse, Sfax and Zarzis, Tunisia
Start date 02/01/2023
End date Ongoing
Cost of the project €150,000
Foundation funding €150,000
Project identifier 20221075
Partners OIM Tunisia
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

Tunisia is facing economic and social challenges that have significant repercussions for its population, in particular children, young people and marginalised groups, including women and migrant communities. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated socioeconomic conditions, contributing to rising frustration in the country and tensions between migrants and their host communities.

When the discrimination and exclusion experienced by migrant populations in Tunisia, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa, are added to this situation, it can be seen that there is a need to promote social inclusion, tolerance and diversity within the migrant and host communities. Using sport as a vehicle for change, an activity that increases the participation of children and women, this project aims to encourage and facilitate social inclusion between migrant and host communities in five cities in Tunisia .

Building on the pilot project “Sport for Inclusion: Football Against Racism”, this project aims to extend its reach to marginalized communities to participate in sports activities and to develop coordination and collaboration with stakeholders. governmental and non-governmental to ensure safe and inclusive communities in Tunisia.

Project goals

Reinforce the social inclusion of migrant and local populations in Tunisia in accordance with international law and standards on migration and human rights.

Project content

Building on the pilot project, Sport for Inclusion: Football against Racism, this project aims to extend the scope to marginalised communities so that they can participate in sports activities. It also seeks to further its coordination and collaboration with both governmental and non-governmental actors to promote safe, inclusive communities in Tunisia.

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the improvement of social inclusion between migrant and host communities. This is especially the case for women and children, and is achieved by enabling local and national actors to provide educational services through sport and other recreational activities. This approach facilitates social integration, provides training and raises the awareness of tolerance, inclusion and the fight against discrimination among the broader community. The project will build on a pilot initiative in the cities of Sfax, Sousse, Tunis and Zarzis and will include gender considerations in all aspects of the programme’s design and implementation, evaluating the unique challenges and opportunities for women and children to participate in sport as a means of empowerment and to build self-esteem.

The project's approach is based on the theory of intergroup contact, adopted by IOM around the world, including IOM Tunisia, to promote social cohesion. Intergroup contact theory states that when people from different origins meet and mix in the appropriate circumstances, trust increases and prejudices decrease among the participants. This method, taken from the field of social psychology, was first put forward by Robin Williams in 1947 and has subsequently been supported and developed by other researchers. There is now an enormous amount of empirical evidence that, under the right conditions, positive contacts between individuals from different groups in society are likely to improve relations between those groups. The project is anchored in this approach and will also use a proven methodology to evaluate the initiative’s impact.

Partners

Stay at school as long as possible

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Yoto, Togo
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 11/30/2024
Cost of the project €80,000
Foundation funding €35,000
Project identifier 20220058
Partners C.I.E.LO – Coopération Internationale pour les Equilibres Locaux
Categories Access to Sport - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

Togo is one of the poorest 25 countries in the world according to the UN ranking, yet parents in a rural area managed to set up the AMOUSSIMÉ 2 general school in 2019. The state recognised the establishment in 2021. The school welcomed 107 new students from several villages for the start of the 2022-2023 school year, 48% of whom are girls. However, the school’s four classes (first to fourth years of secondary school) gather in straw huts with roofs that leak in the rainy season. There are not enough desks, the blackboards are in poor condition, none of the seven teachers has a table or chair and there are no toilets or sports facilities; all of this hinders learning.

Project goals

  • Improve the infrastructure of secondary schools in Togo.
  • Improve conditions for teachers and optimise learning for students.
  • Upgrade the sanitation facilities
  • Strengthen teaching activities and sport in particular
  • Improve the local economy by employing the services of local businesses
  • Expand and promote the activities of the Togolese association APMRPD, a CIELO partner

Project content

The project will support the AMOUSSIMÉ 2 school by building four new classrooms. Each of these will be equipped with 20 double desks, a teacher’s table and two blackboards. A sand sports pitch will be constructed, with football goals and volleyball posts. Equipment for 30 educational games and 10 sports games will be supplied as well as 20 musical instruments. Teachers will be given additional training by four specialised support workers. A toilet block will be constructed.

Partners

“Prishtina” Girls’ football team

Location and general information

Closed
Location Kosovo
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €55,350
Foundation funding €50,000
Project identifier 20221234
Partners KFV Prishtina
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

While there is no longer violent conflict in Kosovo, there is still mistrust among the many communities. These communities remain largely divided geographically, culturally and politically; the divides prevent many, and younger people in particular, from contemplating mutual efforts to build a shared social platform.

Women generally do sport in Kosovo, but few young women and girls play football. Those who do so face significant gender stereotyping, gender barriers and other issues including sexual harassment.

However, there is an opportunity to increase the number of young women and girls playing football in Kosovo. Sport is considered a driver of social change and community development and a tool for fostering peace and understanding. This project intends to demonstrate how football is a powerful instrument to strengthen social ties and promote peace, tolerance, solidarity and understanding, while increasing the number of women and girls actively involved in sport.

Project goals

  • Increase the number of women and girls playing football in Kosovo
  • Harness the power of football to promote sustainable, peaceful relations among girls in all communities in Kosovo
  • Establish girls’ football teams in schools in coordination with municipal sports and education departments
  • Design a local communication strategy to empower women and girls through football
  • Promote gender equality in football to break down barriers and stereotypes
  • Improve the leadership, communication and teamwork skills of the participating girls in different communities
  • Promote togetherness and the benefits of sport for mental health
  • Promote sustainable development goals through joint activities and mentoring sessions

Project content

The Prishtina Girls’ Football Team project provides a safe platform for girls to play football and promotes gender equality. The main focus of the project is to increase the number of women and girls playing football, thereby facilitating trust and tolerance between the various ethnic communities in Kosovo. This is achieved by organising matches and tournaments, with women and girls from all communities playing in mixed teams, including those with disabilities and those from rural areas and living in SOS Kindergartens, together with players already registered with the team.

Training on the UEFA Child Safeguarding Policy will be given to physical education teachers and the project’s community coordinators.

Awareness-raising activities

  • Screening videos on a variety of subjects, including preventing bullying and gender stereotyping in football, promoting children’s rights and the role of sport in diversity, development and constructing peace
  • Marking international advocacy days such as Children’s Day and the International Day for Development and Peace with joint tournaments
  • Promoting a football tournament in Brezovica to bring various ethnic communities together to play and communicate through the language of football

The next step after setting up girls’ teams is to establish a primary school league in Prishtina in conjunction with the municipality department of sports.

Partner

Score for Education Phase 2

Location and general information

Closed
Location Albania
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €201,141
Foundation funding €129,931
Project identifier 20220339
Partners Save the Children
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Many schools in Albania are not able to implement the official physical education curriculum due to a lack of facilities and materials. Only 8% of girls and 22% of boys aged 15 are involved in daily physical activities. Gender norms prevent girls from participating in sport. Furthermore, bullying, harassment and abuse are outstanding challenges. Together with the foundation, Save the Children is tackling these issues by scaling up the Score for Education project.

Project goals

The overall goal is for schools and communities to promote healthy lifestyles and holistic development through sports activities, leaving no child behind. The approaches to achieving this goal include:

    1. Providing quality sports facilities and activities for the children of five schools
    2. Encouraging teachers to use sport to promote respect, equality and inclusion
    3. Supporting children, parents and communities to show increased awareness of inclusion, social acceptance and equality

Project content

Score for Education phase 2 contributes to better school environments, in this way promoting healthy lifestyles and allowing children to achieve their full potential. While continuing its activities in the three urban schools supported in phase 1, the project will be extended to two rural schools. This second phase integrates the lessons learned from previous projects, such as introducing activities that tackle bullying. It will also add other sports (e.g. volleyball) based on feedback received from girls. In total, 1,104 children will be reached directly. Activities will include:

  • Establishing and supporting mini sports clubs for girls and boys offering a variety of sports activities
  • Organising a football championship
  • Renovating and improving the sports facilities at two rural schools
  • Building the capacity of PE teachers with regard to techniques to nurture life skills through sport

Workshops with parents and children on the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle.

Partner