Football for All in Vietnam

Location and General Information

Context

The Football for All in Vietnam (FFAV) project was initiated in 1997 and formally established in 2001 by means of a partnership between the Football Association of Norway (NFF) and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). FFAV uses football activities to teach life skills and promote cultural values to young children and adolescents. FFAV currently supports 1,541 teams at 183 clubs, with more than 17,000 children participating in these activities.

However, with certain children facing specific problems when it comes to integrating into their communities, this programme is set to be expanded in order to cover three specific groups:

  • Young girls – particularly girls from ethnic minorities – are often expected to conform to gender roles set out by society and their families, as well as facing issues associated with a lack of education and early marriage.
  • Children with disabilities are often treated as outsiders and seen as unable to fully participate in society because of their differences.
  • Children living on boats in resettlement areas face a plethora of societal issues as a consequence of being seen as different and inferior by local residents. This results in them being discriminated against, not wanting to go to school and not having many friends.

Objectives

This project will extend the FFAV model to cover these children, specifically allocating resources to these groups in order to help them address the issues they face through participation in football and life skills activities. Alongside funding from UEFA, additional programmes and resources will be deployed in order to meet the following objectives:

  • fostering social inclusion – especially among parents and children – by giving girls, children with disabilities and children from resettlement areas greater access to football activities;
  • helping and supporting local partners, enabling them to facilitate grassroots football and life skills activities on the ground;
  • helping to improve soft skills (including communication, self-confidence and teamwork) and raise social awareness of the target groups through football activities/events incorporating life skills;
  • promoting volunteerism and the development of leadership skills among young people in the community.

Project Content

Activities will be concentrated in specific areas of Thua Thien Hue Province: A Luoi District and Nam Dong District, resettlement areas and social centres. They will include the following:

Football training for coaches and referees at new clubs, plus life skills courses

  • Youth leadership programme
  • Volunteer training for members of local communities, including parents
  • Three ‘fun football festivals’ with a focus on integrating young girls from ethnic minorities, children from resettlement areas and children with disabilities
  • Study tour monitoring the needs and results of the project

Expected Results

Grassroots football will be introduced in seven new resettlement areas and maintained in four others. We expect the creation of football clubs to encourage children to stay in school, improving their level of education. Making friends in the community will lead to further social inclusion, while increased self-confidence will result in better communication skills. Children will learn life skills through club activities, which will reduce addiction and early pregnancies.
At least 2,000 disadvantaged children – including ethnic minority girls in two mountainous districts, orphans and children with disabilities in 14 social centres, and children in resettlement areas – will be included in FFAV’s football and life skills project as a matter of priority.
All children participating in the project will be taught about gender equality, social inclusion, children’s rights and other social problems associated with their community.

At least 500 adolescent girls – especially those from ethnic minorities – will be taught about reproductive health, financial management, health and hygiene, and communication.

We expect that participation in football activities at the various new clubs will result in more young girls becoming physically active. We hope to have equal numbers of girls and boys playing, which should help to gradually break down gender norms.

In addition, 13 existing football clubs in social centres and resettlement areas are to receive assistance, being given both operational and financial support.

Allowing children with disabilities to participate in football activities will help to improve social inclusion by fostering interaction with a wide range of different people. We want to increase awareness and understanding of the issues faced by children with disabilities, enable them to play and interact with other children, increase their self-confidence, improve their communication skills and encourage other children to play with them. Overall, this project aims to break down negative prejudices about children with disabilities, using football to show the contribution that they can make to society.

Partners


GOAL PLUS

Location and general information

Context

PluSport is the umbrella organisation for disabled sport in Switzerland. For almost 60 years, it has been promoting the integration of disabled people through sport. The UEFA Foundation for Children is supporting PluSport’s Goal Plus – Play Football project, the main aim of which is to use football and the passion it creates to enable all disabled children, including those who use wheelchairs, to play football. Enabling disabled children to play football gets them active, helps them to have fun and develops team spirit – all of which are essential to their integration.

PluSport uses football to promote disability sport among its 12,000 amateur members through 90 regional clubs, offering a variety of sports disciplines and organising about 100 camps.

Project content

Focus on subproject Play Football
PluSport attaches great importance to the promotion of football and ball sports in general as integration tools. Virtually all children and teenagers would like to be able to play football; it gets them active, helps them to have fun and develops team spirit – all essential qualities that help disabled children to progress in their daily lives. With the 2018 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, we expect more disabled children and teenagers to show an interest in playing football.

Through the Play Football subproject, PluSport is aiming to develop and broaden the use of football as a tool for integrating and promoting the next generation. All children need to be able to enjoy playing football, make friends and socialise. Our football-related activities are constantly growing. Thanks to initiatives and requests from partners and institutions, we have been able to offer disabled children and teenagers new opportunities to play football, in addition to the tournaments that we already organise.

Our objectives could be achieved and the corresponding activities carried out this year. At present, it is a matter of continuing with the project in a sustainable way while developing it at the same time.

Action plan:

  • Integration of individual children and teenagers, or a whole group, into PluSport clubs or regional associations of the Swiss Football Association.
  • Continued creation and support of PluSport football groups throughout Switzerland.
  • These teams train regularly (weekly), with supervision and coaching by PluSport.
  • A series of regular tournaments has been successfully established, with five or six tournaments organised each year. The aim now is to offer more opportunities by adding two or three tournaments per year. These events should be held in different parts of Switzerland.
  • Special final tournament for the winning teams of the individual tournaments held during the season.
  • Football-themed afternoon gatherings for able-bodied and disabled children (schools, vocational schools, churches, associations, institutions).
  • Use of infrastructure for training/matches (halls, pitches, changing rooms, etc.).
  • Coach education and remuneration.
  • Organisation of football camps for children and teenagers.
  • Rewarding of volunteers (coaches, referees, athletes).
  • Sourcing of equipment for training sessions and tournaments (footballs, bibs, etc.).
  • Retention of the Goal Plus project manager.

Objectives

To use football as a tool for integrating and promoting the next generation. All children need to be able to enjoy playing football, make friends and socialise.
The project comprises the following elements:

  • facilitated access to ball games for disabled children and teenagers
  • Goal Plus is an integral part of the Swiss sports landscape
  • involvement of the various target groups in disabled football
  • creation of new ball sports groups for children and teenagers
  • full, systematic promotion and development of disability sport
  • involvement in the project thanks to partnerships
  • targeted image transfer thanks to social responsibility
  • social integration through sport

Expected impact and results

  • Creation of new football teams
  • Organisation of weekly training sessions with supervision and coaching by PluSport
  • Maintenance and development of regular tournaments (for disabled children and teenagers)
  • A special final tournament for individual tournament winners
  • Football-themed afternoon gatherings
  • Long-term promotion of football by developing it and extending it to everyone

Partners

Improving communication and education for autistic children in Europe

Location and general information

Context

The UEFA Foundation for Children has decided to allocate its annual support grant for 2015 to a project designed to improve communication and education for autistic children in Europe. This project, submitted by the International Foundation of Applied Disability Research (FIRAH), has been approved by the Board of trustees of the foundation. Inspired by the innovative approach of the project, the UEFA Foundation for Children has adopted the words of Mahatma Gandhi to use as the slogan for the project:

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

Thus the project to improve the lives of autistic children and their families, and to give them hope for the future.

What we are doing

The FIRAH is working with a number of partners to run this project: representatives of international and national associations for autistic children and their families; educational, social and medical services that come into contact with autistic children every day; and universities and research centres.

The project has three pillars:

  • Facilitating access to the latest educational material and equipment such as robots and tablets, adapted to the specific needs of autistic children and their families.
  • Training families and professionals working with autistic children so that they can help autistic children make use of new technology, with online guides and training available to families and professionals.
  • Developing applied research projects to assess the impact new technology (robots, tablets, etc.) has on the every lives of autistic children in order to improve the equipment and apps available. All such research projects will involve the children, their parents and professionals to deliver concrete results based on the needs and expectations of autistic children and their families.

The project will be implemented chiefly in six European countries in order to keep it relatively local and focused on the real needs of families.

The children, their parents and professionals will be involved in evaluating the results.

Our partners

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