Protection and social reintegration for street children

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Burundi
Start date 01/22/2022
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €143,200
Foundation funding €100,000
Project identifier 20210444
Partners Terre des Hommes
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

 

Over 5,000 children live in the streets of Bujumbura, including girls under the age of 15, physically and/or mentally disabled children and children with minority backgrounds who are all the more vulnerable because of their ethnic origin. There is only a very limited number of shelters for these children, which deprives them of a secure social environment with recreational activities. Bujumbura only has three shelters, run by GIRIYUJA ASBL, through which more than 3,000 street children pass each year.

Project content

The project will help street children to reintegrate into their communities through socio-educational activities featuring sport in general and football in particular, along with personalised support for individual children. The activities will enable these vulnerable children to develop their self-esteem and their trust in others. They will also be helped to develop plans for their future.

Objectives

  • Raise awareness of street children among the local community
  • Help street children to develop life projects so that they can reintegrate into their communities
  • Strengthen street children’s self-protection skills, psychosocial resilience and well-being through sport

Project activities

  • Organising tournaments for street children and others to strengthen social cohesion
  • Organising socio-educational activities based on sport and football in particular
  • Providing individual support so that the children can develop plans to help them get off the streets
  • Tracing street children’s families to encourage reunification
  • Providing a framework to enable the children to re-enter the school system
  • Creating an environment that encourages exchanges between the organisers and other child protection stakeholders to strengthen their working relationship
  • Referring children with specific needs to competent local partners

Expected results

  • Roughly 600 street children are provided with a socio-educational framework at the Football for Hope centre in Kabondo and the other centres in Buterere and Kanyosha, so that they can develop their self-protection skills
  • Roughly 180 street children are reintegrated into the community thanks to individual support and follow-up
  • Four meetings to strengthen the working relationship between the various child protection organisations to help provide the children with a safe environment

.

Partner

Positive climate action for the entire ‘sport for development’ sector

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Nairobi, Kenya
Start date 02/01/2022
End date 04/30/2023
Cost of the project €104,735
Foundation funding €66,060
Project identifier 20210472
Partners Coaches Across Continents (CAC)
Categories Access to Sport - Environmental protection - Personal development

Context

Climate Change is an existential threat and the number one social issue threatening every continent and culture. The UN’s IPCC report states that humanity is ‘unequivocally’ responsible for climate change. The positive news is that we can take action to reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the climate.

Project content

This initiative will be the first global effort to create a widespread, effective sport for development curriculum to educate individuals and organisations across the world about steps they can take to reduce their personal carbon footprint.

It will be developed by Coaches Across Continents (CAC) – a global leader in sport for development curriculum creation – and then piloted and implemented throughout Nairobi by sport for development climate action leader Green Kenya. Finally, the curriculum will be translated into seven major languages and shared freely and openly to allow individuals and organisations to educate their children, young leaders, coaches and communities.

This free resource will be available electronically and easily accessed through a smart phone anywhere in the world via a link or QR code. As another global first, through CAC’s partnership with Sport Session Planner, the curriculum will be animated and utilise video examples for each activity. This is a game changer in how football and technology can be used to address climate action education.

Objectives

  • Create and distribute a ten-game curriculum for the sport for development community to teach individuals worldwide how to reduce their own personal carbon footprint;
  • Translate, animate and create video clips for the curriculum;
  • Pilot the curriculum in Kenya;
  • Provide the curriculum free of charge via the Sport Session Planner platform to allow coaches, teachers and practitioners around the world to implement it;
  • Campaign the Kenyan ministry of education to implement the curriculum beyond the pilot as part of its national competency-based curriculum;
  • Actively publicise the availability of the curriculum through various networks.

Project activities

Step 1 (March–June 2022): Develop and animate a climate action curriculum based on UN ACT Now – ten steps that individuals can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

Step 2 (July–December 2022): Deliver the curriculum in four Nairobi schools and at weekend youth league training sessions in partnership with Green Kenya, which will report on the curriculum’s impact and create video recordings of the activities to upload to the platform.

Step 3 (January 2023): Translate the curriculum into a minimum of seven global languages: English, Swahili, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Step 4 (February–March 2023): Campaign the Kenyan government to include the curriculum in its national curriculum. Share the curriculum freely across East Africa and globally via the CAC network and other networks such as streetfootballworld, Think Beyond and sportanddev.org.

Expected results

It is expected that the curriculum will:

  • impact 1,000 Kenyan boys and girls, improving their climate action awareness and effecting behavioural change;
  • be adopted by local, regional and national ministries of education as part of their curriculums;
  • be publicised through the coachesacrosscontinents.org website and CAC’s internal platform, reaching organisations in 132 countries;
  • be widely downloaded, adopted and utilised by global sport for development organisations;
  • reach at least 2 million children in over 130 countries.

Partner

Social integration of street children through sport

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Ethiopia
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €98,320
Foundation funding €63,000
Project identifier 20210272
Partners Busajo NGO
Categories Access to Sport - Employability - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Busajo Campus is a social and educational project aimed at street children living in the Ethiopian city of Sodo and the surrounding rural areas. It is estimated that there are about 3,000 street children in Sodo.

The ultimate goal of Busajo Campus is to reintegrate street children into their families and society. The project focuses on helping the girls and boys to become more autonomous and self-sufficient by investing in their cultural, educational and professional growth – something which in turn favours the social and economic development of the wider community.

Busajo Campus promotes both vocational and psychological support as the best way to guarantee the children a better life of social integration and to fight the poverty in which they live, helping them to regain confidence in their future. Sport is also promoted as an educational activity that supports physical and emotional growth and a social activity that teaches the rules of coexistence and community.

Busajo Campus guides the children through a path of recovery that is initially physical and then psychological, emotional and attitudinal helping them become happy children now and agents of sustainable development in their country in the future. However, the current workshops are no longer sufficient for training needs and to support the economic sustainability of the Campus.

 

Project content

The support of the UEFA foundation will enable Busajo Campus to create two new workshops and enhance its professional courses to increase vocational training and job opportunities for participants.

The new workshops in tailoring/weaving and carpentry will allow the young people to learn indoors during the rainy season. Two new buildings will provide the space and machinery for them to improve their technical skills, giving them the opportunity to start their own businesses with minimal capital and to specialise in quality craftsmanship which is in high demand in Sodo.

The young people’s soft skills will be improved through educational sports activities including an ‘Olympic Games’ for children that will take place on the campus sports field.

Objectives

  • Increase the potential of the campus by expanding the workshops.
  • Enhance young people’s technical skills, in tailoring/weaving and carpentry, giving them an opportunity to start their own business and develop quality craftmanship, which is in high demand locally.
  • Increase the economic sustainability of the campus by enabling the sale of self-produced goods.
  • Increase young people’s soft skills through sports.

Project activities

  • Constructing the buildings for the new workshops.
  • Delivering four professional training courses (in bamboo carpentry, soap-making, bakery and tailoring/weaving).
  • Providing start-up support to help young people set up their own businesses upon completion of their training.
  • Holding ‘Olympic Games’ for children to promote equal opportunities and socialisation.
  • Coordination, monitoring and communication.

Expected results

  • Two new buildings which will improve the professional training offered by Busajo Campus and improve its economic sustainability.
  • Four professional training courses for 20 boys and girls aged 15–20.
  • Start-up assistance for four self-employed businesses for young people who have finished their training.
  • Informal educational sports activities for 60 young people on campus to promote equal opportunities for girls and boys and integration between children residing on the campus and the community.

Partner

Football in Rissani

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Morocco, Rissani
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €60,000
Foundation funding €30,000
Project identifier 20210570
Partners Association Enfants du Désert
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment

Context

The population of Rissani, a town in the Moroccan desert, has risen enormously over the past ten years; however, the town’s infrastructure has not kept pace. While there are some dynamic clubs that try to provide underprivileged youngsters with access to sport, the lack of funding and decent equipment means that they do not have the facilities they need. The Football in Rissani project was launched to overcome this issue and enable all youngsters, both girls and boys, to enjoy the advantages of sport.

Project content

The Football in Rissani project will build a dedicated sports area in two locations in the town, consisting of an enclosed football pitch, equipped changing rooms, toilets and running water. Playing equipment (balls, bibs, cones, etc.) will also also provided. The facilities will be built by a team of local builders that Enfants du Désert has been working with for 17 years.

Objectives

  • Give youngsters from underprivileged families access to sport.
  • Encourage boys and girls to mix while enabling girls to enjoy sport in a suitable, safe environment.
  • Provide extracurricular activities for young people.
  • Promote education through sport by exposing young people to values such as team spirit and tolerance while. promoting trust and self-confidence.
  • Support the activities of sports clubs.
  • Encourage socialisation among young people.

Project activities

  • Building infrastructure (pitches, changing rooms, toilets, enclosure).
  • Providing two local clubs with equipment.
  • Weekly training sessions in partnership with two local sports clubs.
  • Organising friendly tournaments and open days to encourage more youngsters to discover and take up sport.

Expected results

  • Reduced inequalities through extracurricular activities.
  • Reduction in inappropriate behaviour among teenagers due to their enthusiastic participation in the activities giving. them a sense of belonging and achievement.
  • More youngsters regularly taking part in local life and sport thanks to the new facilities.
  • More girls taking part in sport.

Partner

Improving the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Conflict-Affected Displaced Children

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
Start date 02/01/2021
End date 11/30/2021
Cost of the project €45,884
Foundation funding €43,884
Project identifier 20201286
Partners Street Child
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

Northern Mozambique has suffered from conflict and insecurity since 2017. Deterioration in the security situation and an increase in attacks has coincided with several emergencies: cyclone Kenneth in 2019, severe flooding in early 2020 and the emergence of COVID-19 in March 2020. Currently, 335,000 people have been displaced by insecurity, with children making up 50%. During this time, children have suffered from a sustained loss of education and exposure to traumatic situations.

Project content

Sport will be used to address the psychosocial needs of children affected by conflict and emergencies, while helping displaced children integrate into their host communities. Street Child will help schools to understand the needs of pupils and facilitate support sessions for them as they return to school post displacement and COVID-19. Community sessions will also be delivered by trained facilitators to out-of-school children.

Objectives

  • Address the psychosocial needs of children who have been affected by conflict, displacement and emergency situations
  • Support retention of children in school through the provision of support services
  • Promote integration between displaced and host communities
  • Promote children’s rights and strengthen protection mechanisms in the wider community

Project activities

  • Delivery of psychosocial support sessions to in-school and out-of-school children, using recreational activities, including sport, to help them deal with trauma and build life skills
  • Providing training workshops for psychosocial support facilitators in the use of play-based activities as a tool for integration and development
  • Providing teacher and school council workshops on the delivery of psychosocial support in schools and creating inclusive environments
  • Holding community awareness-raising campaigns on children’s rights and protection services

Expected results

  • 6,000 children (3,000 girls and 3,000 boys) will receive psychosocial support and integration support through in-school and community-based activities
  • 90 school educational staff will receive training in psychosocial support to promote inclusive environments for all pupils
  • 12 local community facilitators will receive training on the delivery of play-based psychosocial support interventions
  • 6 communities will receive awareness-raising on children’s rights and child protection services

Partner

Lay’s RePlay

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location UK, South Africa, Brazil, Italy, USA, Mexico, Turkey and Egypt
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €tbc
Foundation funding €200,000
Project identifier 20200100
Partners Lay’s, Common Goal
Categories Access to Sport - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development - Sponsors

Context

Lay's RePlay – an innovative global initiative in partnership with the UEFA Foundation for Children and streetfootballworld – aims to bring joy to communities around the world by transforming empty crisp packets into sustainable football pitches, leading to positive outcomes for people and the planet.

Eleven community mini pitches composed partially of reused empty crisp packets have been constructed in:

  • Tembisa, South Africa
  • Leicester, UK
  • São Paulo, Brazil
  • Turin, Italy
  • Iztapalapa, Mexico
  • Santa Ana, USA
  • Gaziantep, Turkey
  • Cairo, Egypt
  • Naples, Italy
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Bilbao, Spain

 

Tapping into the global passion for football, these pitches will become sustainable hubs for

positive community transformation.

Project content

Lay’s RePlay provides artificial five-a-side pitches that are ideal for communities with limited access to spaces where they can enjoy the game and develop their skills.

It works with local partners to build spaces and programmes that bring people together and drive positive change for generations to come – it’s much more than just a pitch.

The project’s long-term educational sporting programmes harness the positive power of play and football to address social issues impacting local communities through their four key aims: creating a sense of belonging, increasing engagement, fostering safety, and granting access to sport.

 

Objectives

Lay's RePlay places a strong emphasis on including community members and local organisations throughout the planning, construction and maintenance of each pitch, with a view to developing programmes that can address the specific social issues affecting each community while also fostering safe access to sport. Each pitch is constructed using partially recycled material and the aim is to deliver them with a net-zero carbon footprint.

Project activities

Multiple stakeholders are involved in creating the mini pitches, each of which takes an average of 8 to 12 months to complete. The local partner in each location will lead the process, in close collaboration with streetfootballworld.

Community engagement will be integral; the community is seen not as a recipient, but as part of the decision-making process. It is a participatory project, with an emphasis on talking to community stakeholders, understanding their needs, appreciating their contexts, and collaborating to find optimal solutions. The community is involved in the project before, during and after construction, and preference is given to local sources to ensure capacity development and build trust.

Expected results

  • Eight community football pitches will have been created by the end of 2022.
  • Recycled crisp packets constitute 32% of the material used to construct the pitches, and each community will become more aware of sustainable practices.
  • The artificial turf and the substrate on which it rests (Ecocept™) are 100% recyclable, thanks to the compression of recycled plastic.
  • Local communities in all locations are closely involved in the process.
  • Girls and boys have equal access to a space to play football.
  • Educational sporting programmes provide tailor-made support to the local community and drive positive change for generations to come.

 

First results in the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Italy

  • Local organisations have organised football and other sports sessions as well as educational initiatives to combat the social challenges faced by their communities. Themes tackled include female participation, physical and mental health, education and drugs.
  • Members of the community benefit from a new football pitch that remains open outside of the organised sessions.

Partners

Promoting inclusion through sport for street children in Pointe-Noire

Location and general information

Closed
Location Republic of Congo, Pointe-Noire
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €792,382
Foundation funding €150,000
Project identifier 20200759
Partners Samusocial International
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

The number of street children in the Republic of Congo is increasing. Homeless, without family for support and stigmatised by others, they are socially excluded and do not have access to basic health and social services. The health, economic and social crisis caused by the global pandemic has had a very significant impact on street children. It has reinforced their situation of extreme vulnerability and made it even harder for them to survive on the streets, as they face more stigmatisation and more violence and it is more difficult to access care. The structures that support street children have also been strongly affected by the health crisis.

Created in 2006 with the support of Samusocial International, Samusocial Pointe-Noire assists street children, offering them holistic care. It has developed various services, including mobile teams who carry out street rounds, an emergency shelter and a day-care centre. Samusocial Pointe-Noire also works with partners to build and strengthen a continuum of care, including assistance for street children and young people in their plans to leave the street.

 

Project content

Samusocial Pointe-Noire aims to strengthen its approach to care by using sport as a means of social integration, enabling children and young people who are lost in life on the streets to find direction. The organisation’s approach consists of medical and psychosocial care reinforced by the practice of sport, helping children to develop the personal and social skills necessary for social integration.

Objectives

The overall objective is to contribute to the social inclusion of street children in Pointe-Noire.

The specific objectives are to ensure street children’s access to medical and psychosocial care and to promote their re-socialisation through the practice of sport.

Project activities

  • Carrying out street rounds to provide medical and psychosocial care to street children.
  • Providing accommodation for street children and supporting them in their plans to leave the streets.
  • Creating a football field at Samusocial Pointe-Noire’s shelter.
  • Organising monthly training sessions and annual competitions for street football and Nzango, a popular local sport.
  • Training sports facilitators.
  • Raising awareness of the problems that street children face.
  • Participating in a consultation taking place between NGOs and public bodies for the promotion of street children’s rights.

Expected results

  • 600 street children per year have access to medical and social assistance, through 300 street rounds.
  • 200 street children per year are accommodated at the shelter.
  • 60 street children per year are supported in leaving the streets.
  • 1 football field is created.
  • 60 street children, including 20 girls, participate in sports activities.
  • 12 street football and Nzango training sessions are carried out per month.
  • 2 street football and Nzango sports competitions are held.
  • 8 sports facilitators are trained.
  • 400 people and 15 professionals are made more aware of the problems that street children face.

Partner

Sports for Resilience and Empowerment Project (SREP)

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Uganda , Kampala
Start date 03/01/2021
End date 03/01/2022
Cost of the project €193,215
Foundation funding €144,911
Project identifier 20200410
Partners Aliguma Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

Children make up 60% of the Ugandan population, and 55% of them are experiencing child poverty. Of the 270 million people in Africa living in slums, 2.4 million are in Uganda and 60% of them reside in Kampala. Acholi Quarters is one of the biggest slums in Kampala and is home to over 20,000 people. Children living in slums face deprivation, exclusion, vulnerability and lifelong difficulties linked to limited physical, psychological and intellectual development. They are exposed to violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect, child labour, trafficking, sexual exploitation and child marriage.

Project content

The Sports for Resilience and Empowerment Project (SREP) aims to transform the vulnerable Acholi Quarters community through sports and was a result of consultations between the Aliguma Foundation, the children’s families and caregivers and community leaders. The project targets girls, boys, women and other caregivers (including refugees and those with disabilities) living in Acholi Quarters. A sports facility equipped with basic training facilities will enable 850 women and other caregivers to gain skills to start and manage their own businesses, allowing them to take care of themselves and their families sustainably. The goal is to protect over 2,500 children from exploitation and enable them to go to school and delay marriage until the right time.

Objectives

  • Develop a sports training facility to develop the talent of children in Acholi Quarters slums.
  • Use sport and trade skills to empower 2,500 children and 850 caregivers to escape social and economic exclusion by 2021.
  • Improve the capacity of 200 trainers and coaches to manage and improve the talent and social behaviour of the children.
  • Create access to social and economic opportunities for women and their children.
  • Raise awareness about child protection and gender equality.

Project activities

  • Training and mentoring community-based volunteers, informal community trainers and coaches, linking them to schools and churches in the community and establishing a ‘children- to-coaches’ support network.
  • Community sports activities and events involving all demographics of the community for social, health and wellness as well as talent development purposes.
  • Installing and erecting goal posts and nets, fencing the sports facility, building toilets and changing rooms, and procuring balls and other training equipment.
  • Training caregivers in practical skills such as shoe making, jewellery, tailoring, fashion and design, cookery, house-keeping, child care, nutrition, phone repair, computer literacy, finance, business plans and business development.
  • Drafting user manuals, best practice briefs and articles and conducting research studies and project evaluation.

Expected results

  • A sports facility in Acholi Quarters equipped with decent basic training facilities, toilets and changing rooms.
  • 200 trainers and coaches able to manage the holistic development of children.
  • At least 700 women and other caregivers possessing skills needed to start and manage their own businesses and take care of themselves and their families.
  • 2,500 children aged 6–17 (1,800 girls and 700 boys) protected from exploitation and able to go to school and delay marriage.
  • Gender equality in Acholi Quarters promoted and improved through equal opportunities.

Partner

We are the Champions

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location South-Sudan
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €180,166
Foundation funding €103,200
Project identifier 20200429
Partners Light for the World International
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Conflict victims

Context

Over 1.87 million South Sudanese people have been internally displaced by the conflicts that erupted in December 2013 and July 2016. In the aftermath of the December 2013 to April 2014 conflict, Light for the World carried out an informal random appraisal of the accessibility of the humanitarian services provided by various agencies in the Mahad and Gumbo Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps and host communities. It primarily assessed the education and rehabilitation services for children and adults with disabilities; the general physical accessibility of the camps; and the knowledge, attitude and practices of the humanitarian assistance staff in relation to disabilities. It was found that the knowledge, competencies, vulnerability and needs of persons with disabilities, especially children, girls and women, were being ignored.

Project content

The project’s main goal is to use sports to promote the rights of children with disabilities to access basic health, rehabilitation, education and other services in schools, IDP camps and host community settings.

Sports will further uplift spirits, promote inter-ethnic togetherness, raise disability awareness, and enhance social-cultural and economic inclusion and participation leading to empowerment and independence for persons with disabilities.

Objectives

  • Use the power of inclusive sports as a transformational tool in IDP camps and schools to break down the barriers preventing persons with disabilities from accessing humanitarian response services and education.
  • Promote inclusion in mainstream sports activities in three IDP camps and 90 schools.
  • Create an environment that promotes acceptance of disability.

Project activities

Creation of five inclusive football and basketball teams:

  • Community mobilisation with the support of community-based rehabilitation workers and disability inclusion facilitators
  • Procurement of sports equipment for football, basketball and indoor games, including first aid kits and dignity kits for girls with disabilities
  • Recruitment and orientation of coaches who will provide weekly coaching

Tournaments:

  • Tournaments in Juba every quarter for teams from three IDP camps
  • Friendly matches every month

Teacher training:

  • Training workshop for teachers/coaches in disability inclusion, inclusive sports, inclusive education and children’s rights
  • Refresher training for teachers and coaches
  • Follow-up on the impact of the training

Raising awareness:

  • Awareness raising campaign on disability rights/inclusion and peaceful coexistence including camp management committees
  • Celebration of World Refugee Day and International Day of Persons with Disabilities and production of information, education and communication materials

Disability mainstreaming:

  • Disability mainstreaming training for humanitarian and development organisations
  • Follow-ups and on-the-job coaching for humanitarian staff trained in disability inclusion
  • Continuous engagement with ministries, NGOs, companies and other stakeholders

Expected results

  • 5,000 children with disabilities will have access to existing services, including sports
  • 864 children with disabilities (250 girls and 614 boys) will participate in tournaments
  • 32 children from the inclusive sports team will be supported to become professional players
  • Five inclusive sports for peace teams will be created and trained and they will take part in friendly matches, tournaments and awareness raising campaigns
  • 90 teachers from 90 schools will be trained in inclusive sports lessons in a three-day training course
  • More than 18,000 people will be more aware of disability inclusion
  • There will be mass awareness campaigns in all three IDP camps and 90 schools
  • 18 humanitarian agencies in the IDP camps will become disability inclusive, through a five-day capacity-building training course

Partner

A Mini Football Pitch, an Athletics Track and Drinking Water at the Sport Éveil Académie Sports Centre

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Morocco, Ouarzazate
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €70,669
Foundation funding €30,000
Project identifier 20200470
Partners Solidarité Marathon des Sables association
Categories Access to Sport - Infrastructure and equipment

Context

To allow children whose parents are in financial difficulty to discover the values of sport from an early age, the Solidarité Marathon des Sables association opened the Sport Éveil Académie sports centre in Ouarzazate, Morocco in 2010, supported by donations from local sponsors and the Children & Future association based in Monaco.

Built in the outskirts of Ouarzazate, the sports centre was renovated and reopened on 14 April 2019. With a surface area of over 5,000 m2, the centre provides an introduction to sports sessions (for ages 3–12) and athletics sessions (for ages 6–12) to 240 children, 45% of whom are girls. Football sessions are provided for both boys and girls and registration is free. Sports outfits are provided, as well as a snack after every session.

The sports centre is located close to two primary schools in areas where there were previously no sports facilities. Now, lots of children aged 3–5 have access, for the first time in their lives, to a place where they can socialise and learn through games and sports.

Project content

The aim of the project is to connect the centre to a drinking water supply, install a 120m-long athletics track and create a mini seven-a-side football pitch. The plan is also to keep the sports centre running by partially covering the salaries of four of the eight coaching staff for a limited period of time. In 2020, the 35th Marathon des Sables was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning there were no competitors, no volunteers, and also no sponsors and no donors.

Objectives

The facilities are designed to ensure sports can be played safely and the space also accommodates competitions. Playing football encourages the girls and boys to try other sports. Paying part of four salaries for a limited period will prevent the centre from being closed down, allow training to continue and avoid talented and committed staff being lost.

Project activities

  • A mini football pitch with artificial turf will be built at the sports centre.
  • A 120m-long running track with two 120m-wide lanes will be installed.
  • Connection to drinking water will be performed by technicians from the national water authority.

Expected results

  • Running training sessions will be organised.
  • Competitions with prize-giving ceremonies will be held each month.
  • A drinking water supply will mean that costly plastic bottles will no longer have to be used.
  • The salaries of four employees will be paid during the first half of 2021.

Partner

Improving Protection, Socio-Educational Provision and Social Reintegration for Vulnerable Children in the Central African Republic

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Central African Republic, Bangui
Start date 03/01/2021
End date 04/28/2023
Cost of the project €780,000
Foundation funding €150,000
Project identifier 20200647
Partners Triangle Génération Humanitaire
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

According to the Central African Republic’s Ministry of Social Affairs, there are 4,000 children living on the streets in Bangui. State social support services are limited and these children are exposed to drug abuse, prostitution, infectious diseases, gender-based and other forms of violence. Incarcerated minors are also vulnerable as their rights and dignity are not respected.

 

Project content

This two-year project aims to improve support for street children and incarcerated minors by boosting the capacity of child protection agencies and workers. To help these marginalised children reintegrate into society and their families, the project will cover all stages of their journey: assistance, accommodation, schooling and vocational training. Sport will provide educational and recreational opportunities.

Objectives

  • Improve support for vulnerable children who have lost social or family contact in Bangui and its surrounding areas
  • Maintain and develop services to improve the protection and reintegration of these children

Project activities

  • Developing the capacity of state actors and civil society in the area of child protection
  • Providing educational and social support to marginalised children:
    • medical and social assistance
    • outreach and education, particularly through sports
  • Supporting the social reintegration of marginalised children who are living on the streets or incarcerated through:
    • housing
    • schooling
    • vocational training
  • Reuniting children with their families

Expected results

  • Coordination and support measures for child protection agencies and workers will improve care for vulnerable children: 25 places in accommodation will be available for 150 children and 80 people working in child protection will be better informed.
  • 300 vulnerable children will have access to protection services which will help improve their living conditions.
  • Vulnerable children will be stabilised and helped to reintegrate into their families and society: 100 children will attend school and 30 young people will take part in vocational training or a work placement.

Partner

Blind Solidarity

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Mali, Bamako
Start date 01/02/2017
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project €100,000
Foundation funding €60,000
Project identifier 20200717
Partners Libre Vue
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

The Institut des Jeunes Aveugles, a school for blind children in Bamako, is home to 250 disabled children, where they live and study in difficult conditions. Since 2012, Libre Vue has provided a blind football programme to promote the schoolchildren’s access to sport and contribute to their personal development, health and inclusion.

Project content

The Solidarité Aveugle programme initially developed blind football at the school as a leisure activity for the children by creating a pitch and training coaches. Over time the programme has expanded to include other activities. Mali’s national blind football team was created out of the centre’s best players, coming 10th in the 2018 Blind Football World Championships and 2nd in the 2017 and 2019 Blind Football African Championships. The programme has also involved drilling a well to supply the school with drinking water, planting an organic vegetable garden to improve canteen food and raising public awareness about disability.

A total of 120 young people aged 6–20, 20% of whom are girls, take part in four weekly training sessions and have access to the Maison Cécifoot (home of blind football) equipped with showers and changing rooms.

Objectives

Despite the tragic events in Mali, over the past eight years Libre Vue has provided sports and solidarity activities for blind children with the support of its partners. The current objective is to upgrade its infrastructure with an artificial turf pitch that will allow the Solidarité Aveugle programme to become self-funding by organising events and hiring out the pitch.

Project activities

  • Operating the blind football centre in 2021: holding training sessions, providing sports equipment and mobility aids (white canes), organising exhibition matches and arranging public awareness raising events.
  • Installing an artificial pitch: importing the turf from France, building and under-pitch drainage system, installing the pitch, inaugurating the pitch.

Expected results

  • Improved playing conditions: replacing the dirt pitch will improve safety and enjoyment of the game and attract more children (25% more at the start of the 2021 school year).
  • Reach: coverage of the new facilities with help to publicise blind football in Mali and change attitudes towards disability (30% more followers on the Mali blind football Facebook page – 500 people more disability aware through blind football).
  • Elite level football: the pitch will be used by the national team for official matches or training (plan to hold a regional African tournament in 2022).
  • Funding: events, hiring out the pitch and the involvement of local partners will partially fund the activities (25% expected in 2022).

Partner

The Gazelles of Teranga

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Senegal, Gandon
Start date 04/01/2021
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project €61,000
Foundation funding €30,000
Project identifier 20200894
Partners Unis Vers le Sport
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

The Unis Vers le Sport (UVS) street children’s reception centre was opened in October 2019 in the Senegalese municipality of Gandon. Equipped with sports facilities and employing qualified sports coaches, the centre, which is in a rural location, is surrounded by numerous public schools. For cultural reasons, most girls in the region do not participate in any sports activities, which leads to physical and mental health problems in adulthood.

Project content

The ‘Gazelles of Teranga’ project aims to invite 2,500 schoolgirls from the surrounding rural districts to take part in regular sports activities and fun, educational workshops designed to teach them about the health benefits of regular participation in appropriate sports activities. Their teachers also receive training in sports coaching and first aid so they can continue running these activities after the end of the project.

Objectives

  • Participation of around 2,500 schoolgirls in regular sports activities.
  • Participation of around 2,500 schoolgirls in workshops designed to raise awareness of issues relating to health, hygiene, diet and sport relevant to the local context.
  • Training of teachers in sports coaching and first aid to give them the tools they need to continue running sports activities after the end of the project.
  • Distribution of sports clothing as well as sports and first aid equipment to schools in the region.

Project activities

  • Each day, 50 girls are taken from nearby schools to the UVS centre by coach.
  • Between 08:00 and 10:00, the girls participate in a session comprising gymnastics and fun sports activities.
  • They are given a snack between 10:00 and 10:30.
  • Between 10:30 and 12:00, the girls attend workshops designed to raise their awareness of issues relating to health, hygiene, diet and sport.
  • Meanwhile, from 08:00 until 12:00, teachers receive training in sports coaching and first aid, with 12 sessions spread over a three-month period.

Expected results

  • Regular participation in sport becomes the norm for girls in the region.
  • The physical and mental health of the 2,500 or so schoolgirls participating in the project is improved.
  • The women in the region suffer from fewer health problems resulting from a lack of participation in appropriate sports activities.
  • Basic knowledge of issues relating to health, hygiene, diet and sport is acquired.
  • The teachers gain the knowledge and skills needed to continue running the sports activities after the project is over.

Partner

Refugee-led Sport and Early Childhood Education Programmes Launch in Chad

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Chad
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 03/31/2022
Cost of the project €165,253
Foundation funding €77,145
Project identifier 20201117
Partners iACT
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Employability - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Eastern Chad hosts 360,000 refugees, with numbers increasing due to violence in Sudan. Highlighted in the 2020 SDG report, refugees and those fleeing armed conflict, particularly women and children, face even greater risk to their health, education, and livelihoods due to COVID-19.

iACT is a groundbreaking international action organisation with a mission to inspire a more mindful humanitarian system. It works to ensure conflict-affected children and young people are able to exercise their rights to education and healthy development. iACT’s refugee-led, gender equity-focused early childhood education and football programmes meet immediate needs and have the ability to expand during and beyond the global pandemic to support communities long-term.

iACT’s Little Ripples and its Refugees United Soccer Academy (Academy) are the only programmes in eastern Chad that address gaps in preschool education and sport, providing refugee children aged 3–13 with comprehensive social-educational opportunities that will have a life-long impact. Little Ripples is an early childhood education programme that empowers refugees and communities affected by humanitarian crises to implement child-centred, quality, and comprehensive pre-primary education that supports the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children aged 3–5. The Academy is a place for refugee girls and boys aged 6–13 to learn about teamwork, leadership, and peacebuilding, all while improving their football skills.

Project content

iACT’s Little Ripples and its Refugees United Soccer Academy (Academy) are the only programmes in eastern Chad that address gaps in preschool education and sport, providing refugee children aged 3–13 with comprehensive social-educational opportunities that will have a life-long impact. Little Ripples is an early childhood education programme that empowers refugees and communities affected by humanitarian crises to implement child-centred, quality, and comprehensive pre-primary education that supports the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children aged 3–5. The Academy is a place for refugee girls and boys aged 6–13 to learn about teamwork, leadership, and peacebuilding, all while improving their football skills.

Objectives

  • Provide children with opportunities to heal from trauma and develop leadership skills through refugee-led early childhood education and sports programmes in all 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad.
  • Document the refugee-led process, particularly the expansion of programmes, and extract lessons learned to share with the humanitarian community, partners and supporters of refugee-led work, and sports and early childhood education leaders.

Project activities

  • Six days a week, children aged 3–13 will participate in Little Ripples and the Academy.
  • iACT’s refugee staff will lead the expansion of Little Ripples to one new camp (Amnabak) and the Academy to four new camps (Amnabak, Gaga, Oure Cassoni, and Treguine):A team of experienced staff members will travel to new programme
  • locations, engage the community leaders and members in dialogue, and train and hire coaches, teachers, cooks, and programme coordinators.Little Ripples teachers and Academy coaches will complete three training sessions over the course of 2021.
  • All new iACT teachers and coaches will participate in LEAD with EMPATHY, a leadership development and human rights curriculum that provides the tools and guidance for refugees to learn and practise community organising and programme management skills.
  • iACT staff will share insights and lessons learned from the entire refugee-led expansion process with UEFA and the humanitarian community.

Expected results

  • 80 coaches trained in iACT’s Academy curricula (50% male and 50% female).
  • 30 female teachers receive iACT’s Little Ripples teacher training.
  • 16 coaches hired (50% male and 50% female).
  • One camp coordinator hired.
  • Eight teachers hired.
  • 34 refugee staff trained in iACT’s LEAD with EMPATHY leadership development curriculum.
  • Three iACT refugee staff leading programme expansion in four camps.
  • 8,000 children enrolled in four new Academy programmes.
  • 180 children enrolled in four new Little Ripples preschool centres where they will receive nutritious daily meals.

Partner

Football Foundation Programme

Location and general information

Terminé
Location South Africa, Western Cap
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project €81,000
Foundation funding €30,000
Project identifier 20201327
Partners Grootbos Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Employability - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

The Football Foundation, a subsidiary of the Grootbos Foundation, operates in the rural towns of Hawston, Zwelihle, Hermanus, Stanford, Gansbaai, and Elim in the Overberg region two hours from Cape Town. Here vulnerable children and their families live in underserved townships and overcrowded informal settlements in inadequate shack housing without electricity, digital access, running water or inside toilets. Families move here hoping to find work, but are faced with socio-economic problems such as poverty, high levels of school drop-out, gangs, marine poaching, drugs, alcohol abuse and gender-based violence. With an unemployment rate of over 50%, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, young people face a bleak future. Schools are struggling to serve these communities and children have little hope of breaking out of the cycle of poverty.

The Football Foundation programme aims to give these children role models, hope, healthy lifestyles and promising opportunities so that they can pursue the same dreams as more affluent children.

Project content

The Football Foundation programme uses community development sports programmes to give vulnerable children not just access to sport, but also to education, life skills, health and nutrition, life opportunities, gender equality, employability and conservation awareness, which paves the way to a better future and more dignified life.

8,461 vulnerable children attend free, daily, multisports coaching at community sites and schools. This gives them a safe place where they benefit from daily meals, role models in the form of their coaches, and digital access and learning support, which are vital during school closures due to the pandemic. The children receive education in female empowerment, conservation, nutrition, HIV and AIDS, employability, entrepreneurship and racial integration.

Objectives

The programme aims to uplift vulnerable children (aged 6 months to 18 years) through sports coaching, education and life skills to help them become thriving young adults. With a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular conservation, the programme is committed to conserving and restoring the natural biodiversity of the local Cape Floral Kingdom.

Project activities

  • Coaching in football, hockey, cross-country running, netball, track and field, canoeing, women’s rugby and water safety.
  • Motor skills sports at early childhood development centres and a special needs centre.
  • An HIV/AIDS programme in schools.
  • Afterschool programmes: female empowerment programme; Earth Rangers conservation programme; Food 4 Sport nutrition programme; and employability and entrepreneurship programme.
  • Learning support and free data.

Expected results

  • A minimum of 8,461 beneficiaries aged 6–18 years (49% female) of the sports programmes.
  • A minimum of 200 beneficiaries aged 0–6 years (50% female) of the motor skills programmes.
  • A minimum of 15 beneficiaries with special needs (aged 8–16 years) of the motor skills programmes.
  • 40 beneficiaries of the female empowerment programme.
  • 90 beneficiaries of the Earth Rangers programme.
  • 120 beneficiaries of the Food 4 Sport programme.
  • 120 beneficiaries of the employability and entrepreneurship programme.
  • A minimum of 8,461 beneficiaries of the daily meals scheme.
  • 100 beneficiaries of access to education support.

Partner

The Game, The Life !

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location South-Africa, Pretoria
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €62,248
Foundation funding €15,000
Project identifier 20200921
Partners Médecins du Monde
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Employability - Personal development

Context

The Mamelodi township, northeast of Pretoria, is one of the poorest communities in South Africa. The level of education is low and opportunities for supervised learning outside the classroom are often non-existent. Physical education was taken off the national curriculum in 1994 and it is a subject easily neglected in townships lacking playgrounds and sports fields. Children often hang out unsupervised on the streets where they are exposed to numerous risks, such as violence, drugs, and early and unprotected sex, further damaging their already fragile lives and preventing them from building a future.

Project content

Bophelo Ke Kgwele (The Game, the Life!) was launched in 2011 by the Swiss NGO IMBEWU, in partnership with the South African association Altus Sport and the basketball player Thabo Sefolosha. The project promotes children’s learning and holistic development through extracurricular sports, educational and recreational activities. These activities are led by young adults from within the local community and consist of academic support classes, summer camps, tournaments and life skills sessions.

Objectives

The project improves the participants’ physical and mental well-being, as well as raising their level of education. By building partnerships, Altus Sport becomes more sustainable and autonomous.

Project activities

  • Sports activities every day after school, on some weekends and during the holidays.
  • Fun life skills sessions covering social issues, health and prevention, rights and responsibilities, crime, gender equality, drugs and sex.
  • After-school English reading and writing support for children aged 6–8.
  • Daily distribution of fruit to all the beneficiaries to address the problem of malnutrition.
  • Maintenance of sports facilities and provision of water and sanitation facilities.
  • Training and knowledge-sharing workshops every month for the young coaches.

Expected results

  • Trust will be established between the young people and the coaches.
  • Coaches will develop professional, personal and social skills; each coach will participate in at least 80% of the workshops each year; and at least one coach will find employment each year.
  • The beneficiaries’ self-esteem and self-confidence will increase by 75% each year.
  • English reading and comprehension levels will be improved by 50% each year and children needing extra academic support will attend at least one reading support class per week.
  • Each child will attend at least one sports lesson per week and over the year they will learn the rules of the game and develop their skills in at least six sports.
  • The nutritional element will remain part of the project and the physical fitness of the beneficiaries will be improved by 80% each year.
  • Communication with all partners will continue; the municipality of Tshwane will continue to support the project; and networking will attract new sponsors and partners.
  • Manuals will be regularly updated and tests at the beginning and end of each year will provide accurate and relevant quantitative and qualitative data.

Partner