Sports and Play for Asylum-Seeking Unaccompanied Minors

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Netherlands
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 12/01/2024
Cost of the project 108,257€
Foundation funding 38,829€
Project identifier 20220370
Partners KLABU Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Employability - Healthy lifestyle - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

The initial reception, medical check and first application interview of all asylum-seekers arriving in the Netherlands takes place at the Central Reception Centre in Ter Apel. In recent months, the centre has faced challenges with a higher influx of asylum seekers and slightly prolonged process times. Unaccompanied minors (UAM) – asylum seekers under the age of 18 who are not accompanied by a parent or adult relative – are particularly vulnerable. UAM are exposed to many challenges and traumas during their journeys and need special care. UAM numbers at the centre have increased in recent months, putting pressure on social workers who already lack sufficient time and resources. The stress of the asylum-seeking process coupled with the lack of meaningful daytime activities for UAM clearly have a direct impact on their mental well-being.

Project goals

  • Improve the mental well-being of UAM by providing access to sports
  • Create a safe space for young asylum-seekers to relax and socialise
  • Offer the adult residents of the centre training through a volunteering programme
  • Create an effective activity schedule around and beyond sports with a focus on well-being and personal growth

Project content

Community volunteers organise activities for UAM including art workshops and sports coaching days. The container-based clubhouse has been transformed into a sports library that is entirely managed and run by community volunteers. Improvements will be made to the clubhouse to further encourage social interactions.

As well as day-to-day activities, the project also hosts special events to bring young people together. The first Social Sports Day consisted of indoor sports, music, dance and arts workshops, all of which were much enjoyed by the young participants. A workshop is planned to design a sports kit for the centre’s young residents.

Regular workshops are led by refugees who have previously stayed in Ter Apel. They share their experiences of settling in the Netherlands after leaving the reception centre.

Partner

LEARN & PLAY – Equal opportunities for education and sport for all children!

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Montenegro
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 05/30/2023
Cost of the project 60,810€
Foundation funding 47,810€
Project identifier 20221116
Partners NGO Parents
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Alarmingly, 33.7% of children in Montenegro experience poverty. The UNICEF report Multidimensional Child Poverty in Montenegro (2021) states that the situation is expected to get worse, compounded by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NGO Roditelji supports children living in extreme poverty – often in informal housing, without electricity and regular meals, and socially isolated owing to discrimination. They struggle at school and often drop out at an early age. None of them have access to any sport. Without education and social inclusion, they have no chance of a better life.

Project goals

Support education and social inclusion of 1,120 children who live in extreme poverty.

Specific objectives:

    1. Provide access to sport – free football training for 800 children who live in extreme poverty
    2. Provide free lessons to enable 320 children to acquire basic reading and writing skills
    3. Boost the children’s self-esteem, motivation and social skills
    4. Promote equal opportunities for all children among the main stakeholders

Project content

Equal opportunities for education and sport for all children! The project aims to improve opportunities for children aged 6–10 who live in extreme poverty in suburban and rural areas of Nikšić municipality, by supporting their education and social inclusion through sport. The project will consist of regular football training, mentorship (teaching them grammar, reading and writing) and ending with a sports tournament. LEARN & PLAY will help them to finish school, be included in social life, and spin the wheel of change!

Sport is life-changing for underprivileged children. Sport provides them with both formal and informal education. We have shown the potential of football in Podgorica and now in Nikšić.

Activities

  1. Football training in 8 primary schools
  • Selecting schools and coordinating the approach
  • Developing a training programme for PE teachers or licensed coaches
  • Providing sports equipment for children
  • Coordinating football training twice a week for 800 children per school
  • Organising visits by famous Montenegrin football players
  1. Organising free classes according to the school curriculum
  • Recruiting volunteers who will help the children learn
  • Training for volunteers
  1. Organising a football tournament for 16 school teams (2 per school)

Partners

Football: A universal language

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Lithuania
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project 50,000€
Foundation funding 37,000€
Project identifier 20220179
Partners Vilnius social club
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

Lithuanian society has faced various challenges over the last few years:

  • Deterioration in the population’s psychological health following the pandemic;
  • Large number of refugees arriving from Africa and the Middle east in 2021 after the border with Belarus opened;
  • Tensions with Russian community and migration from Ukraine as a result of the war in Ukraine;
  • Economic hardship, inflation and increased poverty.

In Lithuania, football is not accessible to vulnerable children and young adults because of the high fees and too much focus on results.

Project goals

Vilnius Social Club has run the football programme since 2013. The main goal is not sporting results, but a qualitative change in the life of each participant:

  • To help develop children and young people to develop skills and qualities that will help them to overcome various life challenges, such as independence, communication skills and the ability to work as a team, take responsibility, solve conflicts, find compromises and come to agreement.
  • To improve the participants’ social and sporting skills, thereby expanding the options available to teenagers in the future.

Principles of the project:

  1. Football is just a tool: we want participants in the football programme to grow as individuals, and we aim to create a space in which children and young people can take part in regular and long-term activities at their own pace. Playing football helps them to learn to be on time and stay until the end, to work as a team, to manage their emotions, to deal constructively with stressful and challenging situations, to win and lose, to interact with peers and adults, and to reflect on their experiences.
  1. Equal opportunities for all: we encourage diversity among the children who attend our football sessions, who include girls and boys, quieter and louder children, those of different nationalities, and weaker and stronger individuals.
  1. Empowering performance: we constantly reflect on our work and try to be clear about the limits of our responsibilities. Instead of playing the role of saviour, we choose to collaborate with our partners, provide them with feedback and work together to make a positive difference in the lives of children and young people.

Project content

Participants of the football activities are divided into different age groups, with each having a two-hour session once a week. The sessions are structured as follows:

  1. Informal activities (free play): 20 minutes
  2. Opening circle: 10 minutes
  3. Football exercises: 30 minutes
  4. Football match: 30 minutes
  5. Discussion (circle): 30 minutes

Around 120 people aged from 7 to 20, with different experiences and facing different challenges, participate in the football programme each year. They all find a space where they are accepted regardless of their behaviour, financial situation or physical ability.

Additional activities include collaborating with families, one-to-one communication, work with individuals, activities during school holidays, and a summer camp.

Partner

Together for the Ukrainians

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Italy
Start date 03/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project 50,000€
Foundation funding 25,000€
Project identifier 20220892
Partners Comitato Regionale Emigrazione Immigrazione - CREI ACLI Sardegna
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Employability - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered a forced migration of Ukrainian citizens across Europe. Although refugee flows can change rapidly, Italy has received the fourth largest number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe (220,000), after Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Project goals

The project’s short-term goals are to help refugees cope with trauma and restore their mental well-being as well as overcome communication barriers that hinder social interactions.

The medium-term objectives are to promote refugees’ personal development and growth in different contexts.

The long-term goals are to prevent isolation and discrimination, nurture relationships and offer healthy opportunities for cultural exchanges.

Project content

CREI ACLI acted immediately to address the critical issues of the emergency. However, these were short-term actions, whereas the integration of refugees is a long and difficult process, requiring efforts to prevent isolation, discrimination and, ultimately, social delinquency. Our refugee integration project is based on a social inclusion model that will address these difficulties.

In addition to the services we have offered since March 2022 (psychological support, Italian classes, support for enrolment in school and university, professional and career counselling), we will carry out the following activities:

Sport, art and cultural orientation: activities to present children with the opportunities in our area. Sports-based educational activities are great tools to reduce aggression, bring people together and build good relationships between different groups.

Enrolment in sports clubs: team sports favour interactions and integration. Refugee children will play in heterogeneous teams of local children and children from various ethnic origins. Special game-based training sessions and tournaments will be held in the province of Cagliari based on the theme of solidarity.

Recreation and fun activities: together with local children and second-generation immigrants in the same age range, young refugee will take part in social games and activities in the park. There will also be art workshops and discussions on customs, traditions, current affairs, etc.

Guided tours around Cagliari and trips further afield with local and second-generation immigrant children to visit places of historical, artistic, cultural and natural interest in Sardinia.

Partners

Visiting sick children in hospitals

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Hungary
Start date 12/01/2022
End date 07/31/2024
Cost of the project 134,000€
Foundation funding 20,000€
Project identifier 20220462
Partners Amigos for Children Foundation
Categories Children with disabilities - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Children may face a range of problems when they are admitted to hospital for long periods of time. They may fail to keep up with their studies and lose most of their social interactions. Frustration and a lack of motivation can adversely affect a child's fight against chronic illness.

Project goals

The Amigos for Children Foundation is working on a variety of approaches to introduce sports themes to the project’s hospital visits. With the assistance of the UEFA Foundation for Children we will add sports-related knowledge to the sessions, producing sports-themed exercise booklets. All volunteers are university students and recruitment will start in March 2023.

Project content

The project involves university student volunteers who visit long-term child patients at least twice a week to help them with their studies, assist with arts and crafts and improve social contact. The focus is on learning through play to the enjoyment of patients and volunteers alike.

The project will continue hospital visits to build on its eight successful years of experience. In 2022 the project welcomed a volunteer who had previously experienced the benefits of the programme as a patient. Bringing friendship, play and study to children's hospital bedsides, regardless of the patient’s gender, age or ethnicity, also has positive effects on recovery times.

Partners

Football Friends – Together is OK! 2.0.23

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Bosnia and Herzegovina
Start date 03/01/2023
End date 12/01/2023
Cost of the project 58,000€
Foundation funding 43,720€
Project identifier 20220196
Partners Football Friends
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Gender Equality - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of Europe's poorest countries that is still facing unresolved post-conflict tensions and the negative consequences of the ruthless war of the 1990s that affect young people and ethnic groups in Bosnia.

Project goals

  • Prevent conflict and promote long-lasting peace
  • Improve relationships between different national groups
  • Challenge stereotypes and social roles
  • Promote more active female participation in all football-related activities

Project content

The Football Friends – Together is OK! 2.0.23 project will extend the age range from players aged up to 14 to those aged up to 18. It will also incorporate the towns of Čajniče and Ustikolina from the same region as the existing project towns of Foča and Goražde.

The project will continue to adopt a football3 approach with teams of mixed genders and ethnicities from the four municipalities. Teams will be assembled using the Viber messaging app.

Partners

Genesis Football for Peace Community League

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Bosnia and Herzegovina
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2024
Cost of the project 417,825€
Foundation funding 80,000€
Project identifier 20220524
Partners Genesis Project
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development

Context

This project contributes to overcoming ethnic segregation among ten ethnically divided communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country is characterised by its divided schools, symbolised in particular by the phenomenon of two schools, segregated by ethnicity, under one roof. This unique form of apartheid emerges from distrust and fear fuelled by irresponsible nationalist politicians.

Project goals

This project aims to empower young people to act as role models and young leaders in their communities. It will contribute to reducing the risk of recurring conflict and violence by promoting peaceful coexistence, trust, respect for diversity and cross-cultural dialogue amongst project beneficiaries. They will learn how to:

  1. Make decisions based on the cross-cultural context
  2. Use conflict mediation skills
  3. Compromise and find solutions
  4. Respect gender equality
  5. Enjoy healthy competition on the pitch

Project content

 

We work in ethnically divided communities and primary schools to promote gender equality, personal development and communication among young people from different ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Football has the power to unite youth from different ethnic groups and is a common language understood by all children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and here it will be used as a peacebuilding and youth empowerment tool.

Project activities:

  1. Sign MoUs with primary schools in ten communities
  2. Donate sports equipment to primary schools
  3. Transfer knowledge among peers using the football3 methodology
  4. Form football3 teams
  5. Establish the Genesis Football for Peace Community League (GFPCL)
  6. Organise football3 matches within the GFPCL
  7. Organise GFPCL camps within various communities

Partners

Sport for Equal Opportunities in Armenia

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Republic of Armenia
Start date 01/01/2023
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project 13,000€
Foundation funding 13,000€
Project identifier 20220509
Partners Bridge of Hope
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

The percentage of disabled children of school age who participate in sport is much lower in remote regions of Armenia than in Yerevan. In Tavush province in northeast Armenia about 450 children with physical and psychosocial disabilities attend inclusive schools, but over 80% of them are excluded from sport and physical activities due to a lack of support from family and friends, negative school experiences, a lack of knowledge of the opportunities available and issues with transport and physical access. Another barrier to participation in sport stems from prejudices within communities and among families, school teachers, peers and the media. The project strives to remove the attitudinal barriers that currently prevent or deter disabled children from seeking inclusion in sports and physical activities.

Project goals

Promote the inclusion of children and young people with physical, mental and psychosocial disabilities, and those suffering depravation, through inclusive sports and games.

Project content

Advocacy actions that target the Armenian legal framework of sport. ‘Sport for Equal Opportunities’ awareness-raising campaigns to boost the profile of inclusive sports policies and practices in the country.

Partners

Youth in Action

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
Start date 12/05/2022
End date 12/04/2023
Cost of the project 130,000€
Foundation funding 85,000€
Project identifier 20220150
Partners Rio Ferdinand Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Employability - Healthy lifestyle - Personal development - Strengthening partnerships

Context

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have increasingly diverse demographics, with migrants, asylum seekers and minority communities becoming more visible in society. This has caused some issues within working-class areas, with increase in hate crimes against minorities, e.g. 48% of hate crime in Northern Ireland is directed at communities who make up 2% of the population. Increasing tensions caused by Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol are also causing conflict, with discussions on culture and identity increasingly dominating the debate and causing discord in border counties.

Project goals

  • Build strong, ongoing relationships through football across the divides of race/ethnicity/culture and the Northern Ireland/Ireland border
  • Train young people from all communities to become leaders
  • Encourage young leaders to work together to deliver social initiatives that promote learning and common objectives to tackle racism, division and inequality
  • Oversee the cooperation of young leaders with stakeholders and decision-makers to address these issues
  • Develop a best practice model that will attract sustainable mainstream funding to deliver long-term transitional change in the target communities

Project content

Our project brings communities together through the sport of football, providing a platform to build relationships and friendships. From this platform we encourage young people to work together and achieve accreditation while delivering social action projects that address racism, division and inequality within their communities and across borders and boundaries. We will encourage young people to share the lessons they learn with decision-makers and stakeholders.

Partners

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

Ongoing
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

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