Street Football Move

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

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

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

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

Project content

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

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

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

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

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

Expected results

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

Partner

SCORING GIRLS

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

Project content

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

Activity 1: Participant outreach and relationship building

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

Activity 2: Weekly football-based educational programme

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

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

Activity 4: Community building and integration activities

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

Activity 5: Annual SCORING GIRLS Bildung tournament

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

Expected results

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

Partner

Social-sports schools in Europe

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

 

Project content

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

Objectives

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

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

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

Project activities

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

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

Expected results

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

In parallel to that, some expected results are:

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

Partner

Sport and play for inclusion and integration

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

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

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

Project content

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

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

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

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

Expected results

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

 

Partner

Child and Parent Day

Location and general information

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

Context

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

Project content

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

Expected results

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

Partner

Hapoel Katamon’s Neighbourhoods League

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

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

Project content

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

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

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

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

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

Expected results

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

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

Partner

GoFitba

Location and general information

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

Context

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

Project content

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

Hour 1 - Football and fitness session

Session structure:

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

 

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

Session structure:

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

Expected results

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

 

Link to the project: www.gofitba.com

 

Partner

Football for Employability

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

Project content

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

Birmingham, UK - Sport 4 Life (S4L UK)

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

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

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

Budapest Hungary - Oltalom Sport Association (OSA)

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

Dublin, lreland - Sport Against Racism lreland (SARI)

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

 

Objectives

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

Project activities

FOOTBALL AND EMPLOYABILITY PROGRAMMES:

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

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

CAPACITY BUILDING AND ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

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

Expected results

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

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

Partner

Sports facilities in Belskoye Ustye orphanage

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Russia
Start date 04/01/2019
End date 09/30/2019
Cost of the project €34,620
Foundation funding €29,320
Project identifier EUR-2018751
Partners Step Up Orphan Opportunity Centre
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

There is huge concern about the abandonment of children in Russia, most of whom are children with disabilities. More than half of people with Down’s syndrome in Russia grow up in orphanages and nearly 30% of Russian children with any type of disability live in orphanages.

The village of Belskoye Ustye is 20km from the nearest town and orphanage residents are restricted in their interactions almost exclusively to their peer group and carers. The region including the surrounding villages and the nearby town of Porkhov is economically depressed, suffers from large outward migration and has few opportunities for young people.

During the summer of 2018, the huge positive impact of football on the children was discovered after some training sessions with professional coaches were organised, enabling tthe joy of playing football together. It was then decided to create a football programme that will provide a rare source of recreation to both children from the orphanage and children from the local community, giving them an opportunity to socialise and to learn important skills.

Project content

The football project of the Step Up Orphan Opportunity Centre, funded by the UEFA Foundation for Children, aims to include orphans and disabled children in society, outside the orphanage. The project will help the children from the orphanage to go some way towards overcoming their severe isolation, facilitating their integration with locals and helping them to develop key communication skills. Moreover, the project will seek to involve children growing up in the village of Belskoye Ustye, the surrounding villages and the nearby town of Porkhov.

To achieve that aim, a football field will be built, and a methodology for football workshops for children with disabilities will be created so that volunteer coaches can run the activities.

Objectives

  • To give children from the orphanage and the rural community access to sport education (guided by professional coaches and trainers).
  • For children from the orphanage to socialise with children from the surrounding rural areas.
  • To improve the health and psychological conditions of the children from the region.
  • For teachers from the orphanage to gain skills as football coaches.
  • For teachers from the orphanage to improve their ability to support the personal development of the children and to integrate specific skills into the football training sessions.
  • To develop a specific methodology for football workshops for children with disabilities.
  • To build a football pitch.

Expected results

  • Football pitch built.
  • Football training sessions provided for the teachers at the orphanage.
  • Football activities provided for the children of the orphanage.
  • Football events run for the children from the orphanage and the children from the local community.

Partner

Success Packages

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Ukraine
Start date 02/01/2019
End date 12/31/2019
Cost of the project €150,000
Foundation funding €100,000
Project identifier EUR - 2018413
Partners Klitschko Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

The bombing in Afrin and Ghouta in Syria, and the escalating violence in parts of Afghanistan is driving people to flee. According to the UNHCR, 21,887 people have crossed the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, one-third of whom have arrived on Greek islands. The number of new arrivals was 33% higher in the first four months of 2018 than during the same period in 2017. The emergency reception centres for refugees and migrants are overcrowded. At the same time, national organisations and NGOs are forced to close shelters and programmes for the youngest of those affected by war, conflict, migration and displacement because of administrative bottlenecks. Homelessness among asylum seekers has become an issue because of inadequate procedures which do not guarantee pre-registration.

In 2017, Terre des Hommes provided safe accommodation for 361 vulnerable families and young people. It currently manages 19 apartments in Ioannina. As part of the same protection package, Terre des Hommes has provided legal counselling and representation to over 1,250 refugees and migrants, and mental health and psychological services to more than 1,500. In addition, access to medical services has been ensured in 70% of all cases.

Project content

Terre des Hommes will continue its mission of supporting Greek authorities and civil society by assisting with the emergency reception of refugees and migrants, supporting their effective integration and helping to build integrated and sustainable child protection systems.

The accommodation programme run for nine months, from April to December 2018, and will be implemented in Thessaloníki and Ioannina.

Objectives

  • To expand the existing accommodation programme.
  • To provide the bare minimum of accommodation and cash.
  • To guarantee a range of protection services, including daily social work, protection activities, legal counselling and interpreting.
  • To ensure children have access to adequate child protection services.

Project activities

The project aims to increase access to safe accommodation and social care in Ioannina and Thessaloníki by expanding its existing arrangements to make 400 beds available in northern Greece. The beneficiaries in Ioannina will have access to a large community centre, which will be the venue for cooking events, language classes, Greek film nights, discussion groups, arts and craft events and child-friendly spaces.

In this way, Terre des Hommes will be supporting vulnerable children with caregivers by providing them with accommodation, and giving older unaccompanied minors (males aged 16–17) somewhere where they can live independently.

Furthermore, the project will focus on psychological support for refugee children, young people and their parents by using games, structured creative work, informal learning, theatre, sport, music, reading and any other activities that will improve self-esteem, trust, cooperation, well-being, safety and life skills.

Expected results

Terre des Hommes is the only remaining international child-focused NGO in northern Greece. The housing programme is essential to ensure urgent action to protect migrant children, prevent child exploitation and provide humanitarian aid to children and their families.

Partner

Paths to Equity

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Spain
Start date 09/01/2018
End date 12/31/2019
Cost of the project €38,488
Foundation funding €25,988
Project identifier EUR-2018553
Partners Ayuda en Acción
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

In the Sant Ildefons neighbourhood, a significant number of children and teenagers are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Their personal development and educational success is conditioned by their families’ socio-economic vulnerability, the lack of educational opportunities, and their national, cultural or ethnic origin. These youngsters’ situation determines and limits equal access to educational innovation projects as well as to leisure activities.

Ayuda en Acción is trying to resolve these difficulties in partnership with the neighbourhood’s primary and secondary schools. Since 2013, it has been running a social involvement programme for children and families at risk of social exclusion. Building a community founded upon solidarity, dignity, equality and mutual respect, Ayuda en Acción improves the lives of around 11,000 children in Spain.

Project content

Ayuda en Acción provides a full range of activities – from school meals and educational innovation projects to employability options for the families, and has developed a project called Paths to Equity, that focuses on sport and leisure activities for children at risk of social exclusion. This project seeks ways to ensure children rights to development and well-being and will be supported by the UEFA Foundation for the 2018/19 academic year and the first quarter of the 2019/20 academic year.

Objectives

  • The project comprises initiatives in six schools with two objectives:
  • Promoting equal opportunities for children at risk of poverty by means of informal education during leisure time
  • Teaching and encouraging the practice of an accessible and necessary sport such as swimming

Project activities

School outings

Six schools will schedule activities during the academic year, such as day trips to various destinations, with a special focus on natural sites. School camps will also be held, offering students the experience of leaving their neighbourhood and spending a few days in nature and practising leisure activities, many of them linked to sport. The school's curriculum includes environmental and sustainability activities.

 

Extracurricular sports activities

It may seem paradoxical, but many children in Sant Ildefons cannot swim, despite the proximity of the beach. Swimming classes are therefore essential for these children. Three schools will receive funding to cover the costs of these extracurricular activities and transport.

Although the schools have a small budget for outings and extracurricular activities, it is clearly insufficient to cover the total cost, so a contribution from families is required. However, the parents cannot afford to pay. The funding therefore ensures the activities can be held.

Expected results

  • Improvement of children’s well-being in Sant Ildefons through social activities and sports
  • 6 schools plan activities during this school year:
  • CEIP Verdaguer, CEIP Montserrat, CEIP Sant Ildefons and CEIP Torre de la Miranda (primary schools)
  • IES Cornellà and IES Maria Aurèlia Capmany (secondary schools)
  • 827 pupils taking part in the project
  • Paths to Equity will support these schools and monitor how the funds are used

Partner

Safe-Hub – EduFootball

Location and general information

Closed
Location Germany/Austria
Start date 01/12/2018
End date 03/01/2021
Cost of the project €221,796
Foundation funding €74,486
Project identifier EUR - 2018748
Partners AMANDLA, Oliver Kahn Foundation, DFL Foundation, Beisheim Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

Even in wealthy countries such as Germany and Austria, social inequality has grown over the last few decades. These growing wealth and resource gaps affect young people and their futures: once a young person has been born into a cycle of poverty, unemployment and inequality, their social mobility is limited. This not only affects access to high-quality education and employment; it also leaves young people vulnerable to violence, discrimination and crime.

AMANDLA is working to break this destructive cycle by offering a constructive alternative: the Safe‑Hub. A Safe-Hub is a place where young people have equal access to opportunities, strive to realise their full potential and dare to dream.

Project content

AMANDLA seeks to create safe spaces that combine the power of football and learning to empower young people and change lives. At the heart of the organisation’s work lies its award-winning approach to youth development: the Safe-Hub social franchise model. Safe-Hubs are designed to disrupt cycles of poverty, unemployment and inequality, especially for young people growing up in disadvantaged communities. At a Safe-Hub, young people can access services, opportunities and support from strong role models through a football-based after-school programme with a focus on health, education and employability. Each Safe-Hub provides a safe place for all young people, including those from minority groups.

Having successfully established three Safe-Hubs in South Africa, reducing crime rates and increasing employability in surrounding communities, AMANDLA is now in the process of setting up its first Safe-Hub in Europe, with its new centre in Berlin due to be completed by 2022. Offering a unique perspective on the question of how football training can be used to develop social competencies and strengthen values for young people, AMANDLA is already organising ‘train the trainer’ workshops for NGOs and football clubs (both amateur and professional). As part of this project, AMANDLA is introducing its EduFootball training curriculum to coaches as a way of fostering social change both on and off the pitch. With more than ten years of experience in youth and community development in South Africa, AMANDLA is currently testing and evaluating its proven concept in order to tailor it to a German/European context. This will allow AMANDLA to ensure the best possible training programme for participants in Berlin once its first centre outside South Africa is operational.

Objectives

  1. Equip German and Austrian coaches to support the development of social competencies through football coaching
  2. Encourage amateur and professional football structures to see value in life skills and integrate them into their football training
  3. Improve the pro-social behaviour of young people participating in EduFootball sessions
  4. Enhance internal knowledge of the project’s methods in order to effectively monitor and evaluate activities

Project activities

  1. ‘Train the trainer’ workshop series
    1. Diversification of current workshop curriculum
    2. 10 one-day workshops with 10 participants each (open to the public)
    3. 10 one-day workshops with 10 participants each (open to partner organisations across Germany and Austria)
    4. Internal workshop aimed at tailoring existing monitoring and evaluation system to planned activities
    5. 10 follow-up site visits at partner organisations
  1. EduFootball training with football clubs
    1. 20 EduFootball ‘train the trainer’ sessions (four workshops – each with five engagement sessions) with up to eight coaches across four/five football clubs
    2. 200 EduFootball training sessions with up to 600 girls and boys
    3. 20 ‘on the job’ supervisory visits to football clubs

Expected results

  1. AMANDLA develops a modular training curriculum that suits various groups of beneficiaries (e.g. both experienced and less experienced coaches)
  2. Coaches across Germany and Austria are better equipped to support the development of social competencies through football coaching
  3. Coaches improve their professional competencies and qualifications in the ‘football for good’ sector
  4. Coaches are better leaders and football coaches and can integrate life skills into training sessions
  5. Coaches significantly improve their ability to support players’ personal development and are more able to resolve conflicts between players
  6. Children have more positive interactions with each other
  7. Children can cope better with conflicts and setbacks
  8. Children have agency and take responsibility for their own actions and lives
  9. Professional football structures see the value of integrating life skills into accredited coaching programmes
  10. The youth development sector has greater awareness of the importance of football as a tool fostering personal development and systemic social change
  11. AMANDLA develops a monitoring and evaluation system to track the implementation of ‘Kick It But Fair’ workshop activities and post-workshop site visits
  12. Staff on the ground have a better understanding of how to monitor workshop activities and post-workshop site visits

Partner

RISE – Beyond goals

Location and general information

Closed
Location Greece
Start date 01/15/2019
End date 01/14/2020
Cost of the project €246,225
Foundation funding €198,020
Project identifier EUR‐2018738
Partners ActionAid Hellas
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

The beneficiaries are young people between 12 and 18 years old that live in and around the disadvantaged Kolonos district of Athens. Their families face financial issues and are at risk of social exclusion, with limited opportunities for engaging in athletic activities (lack of motivation or financial resources, gender stereotypes). Some of these young people face high stress, domestic violence, social exclusion and a lack of creative and life-skills education, which leads to fewer opportunities. The challenges they face can lead to depression, aggressive behaviour, misbehaviour, academic failure, inability to interact with other youngsters, a lack of self‐esteem and a lack of guidance. Family ties are often broken and the link to the community can be problematic.

Project content

The RISE project is a youth empowerment through football programme, led by international football player Dimitris Papadopoulos. It provides children with life values and skills, and enables them to have a better life, dignity and opportunities to develop themselves and their communities. Football players are role models for young people and can empower them to fight for a better life. Their role will be crucial in implementing and disseminating the project.

ActionAid is working closely with football clubs, national football associations and the Super League at national level to raise awareness of the methodology and potential of football as a driver for change and development in the communities.

Objectives

  • Empower disadvantaged youth in vulnerable areas by helping them to gain skills, providing access to opportunities and building resilience that will help them improve their quality of life while fighting poverty and social exclusion through football.
  • Support young people, so that they own a community-led programme in all stages, from design to implementation.
  • Help footballers to become agents of change for a society of diversity, mutual respect and solidarity.
  • Empower young members of the football team to become agents of change for a society with diversity, mutual respect and solidarity.
  • Support the multiplication of programme methodology and principles and influence other institutions’ agendas.
  • Empower members of the youth club to develop sustainable valuable life skills.

Project activities

FOOTBALL

Football3 match with famous national football players to ‘lead by example’

Dimitris Papadopoulos and other famous football players (men and women) will demonstrate that, by changing the rules of the game, we can change ourselves and our society for the better.

Football matches with mixed teams

Bring together civil society associations, football clubs and athletics associations to share, play together, discuss and interact by taking part in friendly matches based on Football3, with mixed teams of girls and boys, locally and regionally. The aim is to give children from diverse vulnerabilities – migrants, children living in poverty, girls – the chance to interact.

 

Other football clubs’ matches

Initiate and train football clubs in the region on Football3 methodology to multiply the impact of this programme and raise awareness of the values that children can acquire from football.

 

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

The youth club will be based in the ActionAid Epikentro community centre in the deprived neighbourhood of Kolonos. Children will have the chance to attend the following courses:

Computer classes/digital literacy: A lack of computer skills one aspect of illiteracy. By teaching children how to navigate the internet and use basic computer programs, we help them break down barriers and open doors to new opportunities.

English lessons: English is essential in the global communities. It helps children improve school performance and integrate better into society.

Job orientation: The goal is to help children discover their skills and abilities, set a life plan and goals for themselves.

Psychological support: Children learn to deal with stress and regain self‐respect and self‐ confidence. This is a crucial part of the empowerment process that enables children to engage and commit to all other courses and to football training.

Empowerment/recreational activities: Children are given the opportunity to interact and have fun. Taking part in small festivals, celebrations and entertaining activities is important to engage young people in the community centre.

Video of the project.

Expected results

Direct beneficiaries

Football team: 20 young people between 12–18 years old (mixed gender) who are members of the football team

Youth club: 60 young people (mixed gender, social status, national/ethnic origin) actively engaged in youth club activities and in the long term.

Indirect beneficiaries:

80 beneficiaries of other organisations directly engaged in matches (diverse gender, ages, social status, ethnic origin)

40 beneficiaries of national level organisations directly engaged in matches.

Partner

Everton in your Community

Location and general information

Closed
Location The Netherlands
Start date 05/01/2019
End date 04/30/2020
Cost of the project €100,000
Foundation funding €50,000
Project identifier EUR - 2018167
Partners Everton in the Community, Edge Hill University
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities

Context

Suicide is a global public health problem, with approximately 800,000 deaths from suicide each year. In 2017, there were 5,821 registered suicides in the UK, three-quarters of which were men (Office of National Statistics, 2017). Suicide is also the biggest killer of young people under the age of 20. Today, we know that 50% of all adult mental illnesses can be recognised before the age of 14 and 75% by age 18. This highlights the importance of prevention and early intervention.

The project focuses on helping children and young adults who have been identified as having a mental illness – or at risk of developing a mental illness – by means of physical activity, education and sport. Operating in England, the UEFA foundation funding will be used to expend the project in the Netherlands.

Project content

Everton in the Community (EitC) has successfully delivered community-based projects for three decades. Over the previous six years, working in partnership with Edge Hill University (EHU), a range of jointly designed, delivered and robustly evaluated projects have been developed. To share this success in other communities, EitC and EHU will provide a support service for a developing organisation that has similar objectives.

EitC and EHU will guide the organisation through a period of growth, including infrastructure development, so that it becomes sustainable and can deliver impactful community projects focusing on mental health and illness among children and young people. Physical activity and sport will be key components alongside the project evaluation.

This project will help with tackling the stigma associated with mental illness and help raise awareness of suicide.

Objectives

  • Use the power of sport to motivate, educate and inspire young people
  • Help the ones facing the toughest challenges, including those that are hard to reach and hard to help
  • Provide life-changing opportunities, give a new start and opportunity to grow, develop and engage with the community

Project activities

Everton in the Community will visit the organisation to deliver this service and invite staff from the organisation to visit Everton in the Community located in England.

Over a 12-month period, the organisation will be supported in various capacity building and professional development activities and learn about project planning.

This will be delivered by Everton in the Community in partnership with Edge Hill University, which has six years’ experience delivering this model. Director Michael Salla and professor Andy Smith will lead the project from their respective organisations.

Expected results

  • This project will benefit more than 300 youngsters
  • Two capacity-building and knowledge-exchange conferences will be held, attracting over 50 delegates
  • A delivery model will be produced that disseminates best practice in using sport, physical activity and education to address mental health and illness in children and young people

Partner

Play for Change sports centre

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Naples, Italy
Start date 01/01/2019
End date 07/31/2020
Cost of the project €123,050
Foundation funding €123,050
Project identifier EUR-2018735
Partners Play for Change
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

In partnership with Play for Change, the UEFA Foundation for Children supported the renovation of a sports centre located in the Sanità district of Naples, which provides an opportunity for disadvantaged children to access sport and educational activities, promoting inclusion and social engagement.

Rates of organised crime, unemployment and social exclusion are very high in this ethnically diverse district. More than 50% of youngsters drop out of school before the age of 16, ending up joining criminal gangs or groups of bored adolescents roaming the city and getting into trouble.

Project content

Sport is a catalyst for a cultural change and is used to impart the values of discipline, teamwork, fair play and commitment on children and teenagers in the hope that they are motivated to contribute to sustainable community development. The goal is to reduce the school drop-out and failure rates, inspire young people to pursue a career and prevent them from becoming involved with criminal gangs. Families and community members will encourage the positive change.

 

Objectives

• Reduce the school drop-out rate
• Prevent any form of criminal behaviour
• Promote healthy lifestyles
• Provide children with cultural development and physical training
• Integrate children from different backgrounds and those with any form of disability
• Create a community network for positive change

Project activities

The first few months of the project, from March 2019 to July 2019, were spent renovating the sports centre, assessing the risks and beneficiaries and meeting with local stakeholders.

Since the outset of the project, efforts have been made to establish a network of local stakeholders. As a result, the project is supported by local communities, institutions and sports partners, which will ensure its economic and social sustainability.

The sports centre was inaugurated on 10 July 2019. An open day was held with , athletes, coaches and educators, during which the project was presented to the neighbourhood and sports activities were showcased to the 150 children in attendance.

The activities began in October 2019 and to date 91 children between the ages of have taken part, including:

  • Thirty-nine girls and 52 boys.
  • Five children from immigrant families, three Sinhalese, one Romanian and one Nigerian, although all the participants have Italian nationality.
  • Seven children aged 3 to 5 years, 57 children aged 6 to 10 years and 27 aged 11 to 14 years.
  • Thirty-six practising gymnastics, 37 karate, seven fencing, seven baby gym and four .

More than 40 children were referred by the local network of social organisations, seven of whom have taken part in the project.

The rest of the participants live in the area and found out about the sports centre by word of mouth or through the public library.

GYMNASTICS: Two mixed-gender sessions are run for children aged 6 to 12. From January 2020, the sessions were divided into two groups. The first group comprises children aged 6 to 8 years, and the second those aged 9 to 12 years. The two groups train at the same time using different spaces in the gym. From January onwards, there was a marked improvement in terms of the behaviour and commitment of the participants.

KARATE: The activities have 37 participants, divided into two mixed groups. When necessary, training and activities are done as there are two instructors per group. At the beginning of 2020, two events for youngsters practising karate were held at the Champion Center sports hall in Scampia, another deprived area of Naples. The participants had the opportunity to train with other instructors and athletes.

FENCING: The course involved only seven children until the break for the Christmas holidays. In January, several children took part in a taster session, but decided not to register.

BABY GYM: The children who applied for the baby gym course have not yet taken part in the activities. Their parents have been contacted several times but, apart from the initial training session, it has not yet been possible to involve them continuously. Four of the children have dropped out entirely.

Expected results

Direct beneficiaries:

Between 100 and 300 children 3 to 14 years old: 10% migrants or refugees, 50% with challenging social backgrounds, 30% with disabilities, and 10% others.

  • Beneficiaries from extremely difficult backgrounds and families with a variety of issues, such as drug/alcohol abuse or incarceration; youth crime; sexual abuse; teenage pregnancy and teenage parenting; unhealthy nutrition; with limited access to life skills information; no coordinated access to sport.
  • Beneficiaries with vision and hearing disabilities (blind and deaf) and forms of autism

Indirect beneficiaries:

Four schools, two churches, six third-sector associations, 300 families, four sport centres, three institutional entities, and 500 community members.

Recent developments and future plans (May 2020):

The last regular training session before the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown was held on 13 March. Project activities cannot currently be held.

During the lockdown, training videos are being used to keep in touch with the parents and children The instructors prepared videos, personally or through a targeted internet search, to be shared on the parents' WhatsApp groups and the project's Facebook page so that participants can continue to train safely. Parents were asked to share short videos on the WhatsApp group so that the instructors could correct form. From an educational point of view, it was considered important to maintain contact with the children, albeit indirectly, for two reasons: to preserve the relationships established so far and to reiterate the importance of adhering to the government's safety directives.

A summer sports camp is being planned for July 2020. Subject to government directives, it will be possible to evaluate the activities that have been planned in collaboration with the other organisations present in the territory. An with children with disabilities or autism will be taking place with the participants’ carers or parents.

If the camp cannot go ahead, new courses will be held from September 2020 with new participants and in collaboration with third-party sports organisations.

Partner

Goal Plus

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Switzerland
Start date 12/01/2016
End date 01/31/2020
Cost of the project €200,000
Foundation funding €160,000
Project identifier EUR–2018103
Partners PluSport, Axpo
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

PluSport is the umbrella organisation for disability sport in Switzerland. The UEFA Foundation for Children has been supporting the Goal Plus project, linked to PluSport’s football section, since 2016. The project aims to use football and the passion it creates to enable all disabled children and teenagers, including those who use wheelchairs, to play football. For these young people, playing football creates new opportunities for social connections, leisure activities, friendships, educational and professional integration, and acceptance in society.

In 2017, the foundation helped to fund the expansion of the Play Football project, which aims to increase the number of disabled children’s teams, as well as the From Football to Rafroball project. Rafroball is a sport for both wheelchair-users and able-bodied players.

In 2018, PluSport set itself the goal of developing and broadening disabled football in order to foster integration and bring through the next generation of young players. This work is constantly evolving. In addition to organised tournaments, new opportunities have been created for disabled children and teenagers to participate in football activities.

PluSport operates in accordance with Swiss Olympic’s Charter of Sports Ethics and recognises the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Project content

For the third consecutive year, the foundation’s support will help to strengthen PluSport’s football-related activities, focusing on two new areas in particular.

  1. Football for the blind and visually impaired: PluSport has decided to support and promote football for the blind and visually impaired, a sport that has been very popular at the Summer Paralympic Games for many years. Unfortunately, Switzerland does not enter a team. Our objective is, therefore, to see a Swiss team participate in the Paralympic Games. This programme will enable many blind and visually impaired youngsters to play football in spite of their visual impairments
  2. Girls’ football: until now, disabled football has mainly involved boys. However, thanks to its success and popularity, this sport is attracting greater interest among girls. PluSport is monitoring this trend, and we would like to help promote girls’ football. To achieve this, we need to work more and more with female experts, instructors and supervisors.

Target groups:

  • disabled and able-bodied children and teenagers throughout the country;
  • girls, in the context of women’s football; and
  • blind and visually impaired children and teenagers, in the context of football for the blind and visually impaired.

Objectives

  • The objectives laid down could be achieved during the course of this year.
    • Continue to facilitate access to ball games for disabled children and teenagers.
    • Create new ball sports teams for children and teenagers.
    • Promote and develop disability sport.
    • Establish new partnerships as part of the project.
    • In collaboration with all football-related associations, ensure that football clubs are open to disabled football and promote inclusion.
    • See a Swiss football team for the blind and visually impaired participate in the Paralympic Games.

Project activities

  • Integration of children and teenagers, individually or in groups, into PluSport clubs.
  • Creation and support of new PluSport football clubs throughout Switzerland.
  • Regular (weekly) training sessions, with supervision and coaching by PluSport.
  • Organised tournaments (five or six per year). The aim is to add two or three tournaments per year in different parts of Switzerland.
  • Football-themed afternoon gatherings for disabled and able-bodied children (schools, vocational schools, institutions).
  • Training sessions for girls are organised in the various regions.
  • Experts are trained and charged with promoting football for the blind and visually impaired throughout Switzerland and coaching the players.
  • Organisation of football camps for children and teenagers.
  • Sourcing of equipment for training sessions and tournaments.

Expected results

  • More PluSport football teams, especially girls’ teams and teams of blind and visually impaired children.
  • Disabled football is promoted through organised gatherings and tournaments for disabled and able-bodied children.
  • Addition of two or three new tournaments.
  • More girls participating in disabled football.
  • New football camps organised for disabled children and teenagers.
  • Expert coaches trained to organise football training sessions for the blind and visually impaired.
  • Creation of a Swiss football team for the blind and visually impaired.

Partner