Learning to change

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Ghana
Start date 03/01/2022
End date 02/28/2023
Cost of the project €57,149
Foundation funding €18,387
Project identifier 20211184
Partners Play Soccer Ghana
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Employability - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

The education system in Ghana is mainly theory, with little attention paid to practice. Many pupils are therefore unable to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Project content

This programme harnesses the unique appeal of football for community development by creating learning opportunities for children between the ages of 5 and 15 to improve their life skills, health and playing ability. Besides applying the football3 philosophy, the programme collects used plastic bags that are knitted into goal nets. The project will be run in 11 satellite communities in six regions for 12 months, reaching a total of 880 beneficiaries.

Objectives

Children will gain additional learning opportunities through ‘play for fun’ and ‘learn for life’ (PFFLFL) sessions to learn more about good health, develop life skills and apply the knowledge they acquire to real-world problem-solving.

The children will sort plastic bags used in their homes and schools which will then be knitted into goal nets.

The football3 philosophy will be used to teach fair play, equality and participation of girls in soccer.

Project activities

  • Coaches will be trained to use the PFFLFL curriculum to educate the children in life skills, health and football;
  • Beneficiaries will take part in weekly PFFLFL sessions;
  • Youngsters will be trained how to re-use plastic bags to produce goal nets and promote clean cities;
  • football3 matches will teach children about fair play and avoiding discrimination.

Expected results

  • 33 coaches will learn how to use football activities to promote learning;
  • 880 children in six regions throughout Ghana will benefit from PFFLFL activity sessions to improve their life skills, health and football;
  • 200 households will sort their plastic waste and plastic bags will be knitted into goal nets;
  • football3 matches will teach children about the need for inclusion, fair play and gender equality.

Partner

Alakäläwa GOLEES

Location and general information

Closed
Location Costa Rica
Start date 03/01/2022
End date 03/01/2024
Cost of the project €72,304,79
Foundation funding €50,707,71
Project identifier 20211137
Partners Fundación GOLEES
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Many young girls in the Cabécar Tjai indigenous community in Costa Rica want to play football, but the community lacks coaches, training and organisation. Football is an expression of freedom for the girls who live in a context where there is a lack of information regarding the rights of young girls and high levels of teenage pregnancy and unhealthy relationships.

Project content

In alliance with community’s women leaders, this project promotes opportunities for indigenous girls to play football. The GOLEES methodology allows social and gender issues to be addressed, while respecting the community’s worldview. The community football field becomes a space that promotes equality, freedom and female empowerment, turning female players into agents of personal, family and community change defending their right to play football and their right to live a life free from violence.

Objectives

  • Create an educational sports space that promotes female empowerment and reinforces the autonomy, self-esteem and identity of the players;
  • Create a structure of female football teams from various indigenous communities and provide the tools for their gradual self-management;
  • Make girls aware of their human rights in order to reduce the levels of teenage pregnancy and unhealthy relationships.

Project activities

  • Educational sports camps: football fundamentals training, joint creation of monthly training plans, exercises linked to social and gender themes;
  • Intercommunity tournaments: mixed (boys and girls) tournaments based on the football3 methodology Intercultural; tournaments: tournaments  with other GOLEES players from urban areas to facilitate cultural exchange.

Expected results

  • 18 educational sports camps with 40 female players aged 12–19;
  • Two intercommunity tournaments with 120 male and female players;
  • Two intercultural tournaments with 120 female players.

Partner

Generation Sport 2022

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Armenia
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €64,086
Foundation funding €55,162
Project identifier 20210723
Partners Armenian Fund for Sustainable Development
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

This project is a follow-up to Generation Sport in 2021, which was a huge success throughout the country. In August 2021, Armenia had 1,403 schools with 368,184 pupils: 175,359 girls and 192,825 boys.

The lack of suitable equipment and the bad state of repair of the sports facilities hamper the PE classes that the children enjoy so much.

The armed conflict in 2020 took its toll on the children, who now need positive, fun experiences.

Project content

The project will promote sport among young people and encourage physical eduction throughout the country. Twenty-five schools will be selected to receive sports equipment. Events will be organised to promote sport and exercise among the school-age population. Organised meet-and-greets with sports personalities will motivate the youngsters and encourage them to fulfil their potential. The project will help promote the inclusion of disabled children in sporting activities.

Objectives

Overall objective: Promote sport and exercise among young people

Specific objective: Motivate the children and help them to fulfil their potential through the following activities:

  • Providing sports equipment for 25 schools, prioritising schools in remote regions and those with disabled pupils
  • Promoting the inclusion of disabled children through sport
  • Involving the ministry of education, science, culture and sport in organising sports competitions
  • Organising sports events

Project activities

Applications and selection

  • Launch, jury, school selection
  • Equipment purchases
  • Distribution to schools

Sports events

  • Meet-and-greets with sports celebrities
  • Promote the inclusion of disabled children
  • Sports events in schools

National school football competition

  • Promote sport
  • Award prizes

Expected results

  • At least 150 schools (over 40,000 pupils) apply for sports equipment
  • 25 schools (over 7,500 pupils) receive equipment
  • At least 10 motivational meet-and-greets, involving 1,000 youngsters
  • At least 4 sporting inclusion events, involving 200 youngsters
  • 300 brochures on the importance of sport distributed
  • 300 sports awareness posters distributed to schools

Partner

Bijzondere Eredivisie (Special Premier League)

Location and general information

Closed
Location The Netherlands
Start date 03/01/2022
End date 06/30/2023
Cost of the project €175,000
Foundation funding €75,000
Project identifier 20210337
Partners Stichting Het Gehandicapte Kind
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

There are currently about 1,500 children practising disabled football in the Netherlands. Just like children without disabilities, they dream of playing for their favourite professional football club. Thanks to the Bijzondere Eredivisie, this dream can become a reality! Children with a disability are placed in the spotlight and everyone can see that it is also possible for every child to play at the highest level. We hope to inspire more children with disabilities to also play football and other sports.

Project content

The Bijzondere Eredivisie is a competition for professional football clubs who participate with their own team of disabled children. Launched in September 2019, this is the first competition in the world in which children with disabilities play for their favourite professional football club. The teams consist of 12 boys and girls of different ages and various disabilities. The teams are carefully selected, according to criteria that ensure a balanced competition.

Objectives

  • Increase the visibility of children with disabilities
  • Inspire disabled children to believe that anything is possible
  • Increase sports participation of disabled children
  • Increase awareness of disabled football in the Netherlands
  • Establish a sustainable competition, including all professional Dutch football clubs.

Project activities

  • Clubs 'scout' their own team
  • 12 clubs and 144 children take part in the competition
  • Teams train once a week at the professional club’s training ground
  • Clubs organise all kind of events for their disabled teams
  • Organisation of the competition (including transport)
  • Competition matches are held twice a month, and every professional football club hosts once per season
  • Activities are communicated on social media platforms: the teams’ own channels and those of the football clubs

Expected results

  • Children socialise and make new friends through their football clubs; especially during the pandemic it is very important for these children to have enough social interaction
  • Notable improvement in terms of the confidence and health of the disabled children
  • The players act as a catalyst for a more positive, inclusive perception of disabled children
  • More disabled children start to play football
  • Minimum of 18 professional clubs are involved in the competition within three years
  • Clubs are 50% self-financing

Partner

Protection and social reintegration for street children

Location and general information

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

Context

 

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

Project content

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

Expected results

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

.

Partner

Football-based inclusion project for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Seville

Location and general information

Closed
Location Sevilla, Spain
Start date 02/15/2022
End date 02/15/2023
Cost of the project €121,692
Foundation funding €80,000
Project identifier 20210532
Partners Fundación Grandes Valores
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

Four of Spain’s ten poorest neighbourhoods are located in Seville, where 38.6% of children are at risk or living in poverty and social exclusion. A large number of migrants also live in these neighbourhoods and are subject to exclusion and segregation. Inequality and a lack of employment opportunities have a significant negative impact on families, child development and education.

The Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR), the Betis Foundation and the Fútbol Más Foundation have joined forces to develop a project that creates community spaces to promote the inclusion and well-being of children and young people.

Project content

Through a socio-sports programme, the project will promote the physical and mental health and inclusion of children at risk of social exclusion in two Seville neighbourhoods. Campaigns will raise awareness of the importance of health in the development and inclusion of migrants and refugees and how football can be a vehicle for achieving this.

Objectives

  • Include migrant children and their families in the community and strengthen their resilience through sports;
  • Improve physical and mental well-being through socio-sports activities;
  • Improve the sustainability of the community by training young people;
  • Reduce social inequalities and prejudices towards the migrant population though socio-sports activities in spaces that are intercultural, equal and safe;
  • Run awareness-raising campaigns on social media and in schools.

Project activities

  • Socio-sports sessions: 90-minute sessions aimed at developing the children’s socio-emotional skills and promoting their well-being, as well as addressing cross-cutting issues of local interest ;
  • Family and community football: Socio-sports sessions focused on families and members of the community with the aim of promoting positive parenting and meaningful community bonds ;
  • Socio-sports events: The two communities participating in the project meet to share their experiences and get to know each other in an atmosphere where coexistence and friendship come before competition ;
  • Training in sport for development: Training in the Fútbol Más and sport for development methodologies will be provided to professionals and leaders of both communities ;
  • Awareness-raising and advocacy activities:
    • Activities and conferences in educational centres in Seville
    • Visibility activities together with football clubs
    • Awareness campaigns on human rights, gender equality and interculturality:
      • #TheBallHasNoGender
      • #TheBallHasNoBorders
      • #DeportePorRefugio

Expected results

  • Improved physical and socio-emotional well-being in children and young people;
  • Existence of inclusive spaces where local and migrant populations interact;
  • Increased number of schools that include non-discrimination and socio-emotional well-being in their activities;
  • Greater sense of belonging in migrant and local children who have access to safe, equal and inclusive spaces;
  • Young people certified in sport for development.

Partner

Live together II

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Turkey and Syria
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 10/30/2022
Cost of the project €200,000
Foundation funding €200,000
Project identifier 20210900
Partners Bonyan Organization for Youth and Development
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

The Syrian refugee crisis remains the largest humanitarian and development crisis in the world. Across the five main Syrian-refugee hosting countries, over 10 million people need some form of humanitarian and resilience support, the highest number in nearly a decade. This includes 5.5 million Syrian refugees and 4.8 million impacted host community members.

The key underlying issues are large-scale protracted displacement, socio-economic conditions, COVID-19 and demographic pressures. Turkey currently hosts approximately 3.6 million refugees, the majority of whom live out-of-camp, integrated into host (Turkish) communities in cities and villages. Both communities therefore share the same environment and resources.

Project content

The Live Together II project is a continuation of the 2019 Live Together project. Work will be done in schools to disseminate and mainstream football3 culture among teachers, who in turn will pass it on to the children. Capacity-building courses will be held, playgrounds rehabilitated and brochures, guidebooks and sports supplies distributed.

Children with special needs will also be included in the sports activities. Girls’ and boys’ football teams will be set up to involve girls in sports activities, with the hope that this will lead to wider inclusion of girls within the community. The project volunteers will receive training on child protection principles, awareness of child protection issues, the promotion of children’s rights and health tips to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Objectives

The project’s overall goal is to use football as a tool for building peaceful coexistence, as well as to improve the sports infrastructure in schools in the border towns of Akçakale in Turkey and Tal Abyad in Syria.

Project activities

  • Playground rehabilitation: Playgrounds in five schools – in each country - will be rehabilitated so that children attending and living near the school can play sports, which will improve their life skills and promote peaceful coexistence.
  • Teacher capacity-building: The teacher training programme will last four days and focus on mainstreaming the football3 methodology as well as other social cohesion activities that can be integrated into classwork.
  • Capacity-building for youth mediators: Youth mediators will volunteer as coaches in the football3 leagues. They will prepare and facilitate the football3 sessions, mediate any conflicts arising between the teams and act as positive role models for the children.
  • Running football3 leagues: Football3 leagues will be set up: one in Turkey and one in Syria. All teams will include both Turkish and Syrian children. Children will play in a safe environment where they will have fun, learn life skills and build their resilience. The volunteer coaches will discuss well-being with the children to provide them with psychosocial support.

Expected results

  • Playgrounds will be rehabilitated in five schools in Turkey and Syria.
  • 100 teachers will be provided with training on football3 and sports for children.
  • 240 children will take part in football3 games in Turkey and Syria.
  • 80 young people will play an active role in their communities and receive training on football3 methodology, leadership and conflict resolution.

Partner

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

Location and general information

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

Context

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

Project content

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

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

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

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

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

Expected results

It is expected that the curriculum will:

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

Partner

BRACE

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Beirut, Lebanon
Start date 02/01/2022
End date 01/31/2023
Cost of the project €183,000
Foundation funding €150,000
Project identifier 20210392
Partners INTERSOS
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

The current deterioration of the economic crisis in Lebanon puts children and teenagers at greater risk of abuse, violence and exploitation. According to the recently published emergency response plan, there is a growing need for protection among Lebanese and migrant children. This creates risks of social tensions among different communities based on their perceptions of access to available services. The child protection sector in Lebanon reports an increased need for psychosocial support services. Additionally, there are growing numbers of children engaged in child labour. Due to the closure of schools due to COVID-19 and the deterioration of the economic crisis, many children in Syrian refugee communities, but also Lebanese and other migrants, are engaged in child labour to support their families. One of the ways humanitarian actors can meet the increasing needs for protection services, including psychosocial support, is by providing safe spaces for children, where they can take part in sports and recreational activities run by child-protection specialists.

Project content

The project BRACE, Beirut Rehabilitation of Recreational Areas for Children and Equality, aims to enhance protection and social cohesion in vulnerable areas of Mount Lebanon governorate, by providing access to a safe and secure playing field for children, where they can have fun, engage in sports activities and interact with members of different communities (refugee, migrant, host). It will be run in partnership with the local municipality and a community-based organisation to ensure its sustainability beyond the project period.

Main communication message - the well-being of vulnerable children can also be protected through access to sport.

Objectives

The overall project objective is to enhance child protection and social cohesion in vulnerable areas of Mount Lebanon governorate in Lebanon.

  • Provide a safe space where children can play and engage in sports and other recreational activities;
  • Help a community-based organisation run sports and recreational activities for children and teenagers.

Project activities

Rehabilitation of an existing playing field

  • Painting, installing walls and roofing;
  • Installing artificial grass, football goals and basketball hoops;
  • Lighting with solar panels to ensure safety and sustainability despite the worsening energy crisis;
  • -Rehabilitating WASH facilities.

Support for a community-based organisation providing

  • Sports, arts, psychosocial activities;
  • Solidarity initiatives for migrants, refugees, host-community children.

Expected results

  • A playing field in Mount Lebanon governorate is rehabilitated and upgraded, providing a safe recreational space for all communities, especially children and teenagers;
  • 200 children and teenagers are engaged in sports and art activities by the local community-based organisation supporting social inclusion and well-being at community level;
  • A community-based organisation is supported and able to provide regular sports and recreational activities for children from different communities.

Partner

Social integration of street children through sport

Location and general information

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

Context

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

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

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

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

 

Project content

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

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

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

Objectives

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

Project activities

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

Expected results

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

Partner

Education, empowerment and employability for girls

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Pakistan
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 12/31/2023
Cost of the project €360,000
Foundation funding €150,000
Project identifier 20210338
Partners Right To Play
Categories Access to Sport - Employability - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Pakistan is at the bottom of international rankings on quality, equity and access to education. Children and young people living in urban slums are among the most vulnerable, with COVID-19 aggravating the situation, especially for girls.

According to the national 2021 Annual Status of Education Report, as schools reopened after COVID-19 closures, dropout by girls increased by 5% in primary schools and 10% in secondary schools. Additionally, the participation of girls in employability training in technical and vocational institutes fell by 25% in comparison to 2019.

Of the 12 million home-based workers in Pakistan, 80% are estimated to be women – the majority of whom faced pay cuts and layoffs due to a slowdown in economic activity. This illustrates the need for tailored programmes that focus on education and employability skills for girls to help them secure better jobs and retain them in the wake of such crises.

Project content

Education, empowerment and employability are the core objectives of the Goal project, which aims to equip girls with the knowledge and skills they need to build better futures for themselves and their communities.

The project includes:

  • a girls’ education and empowerment module focusing on self-awareness, health and hygiene, girls’ rights, and financial literacy;
  • football, basketball and volleyball sessions carefully designed in line with a sport for development (SFD) approach to teach social, physical, cognitive and emotional life skills alongside athletic skills.

Objectives

The two-year project focuses on empowering 18,000 girls aged 11–16 in 70 public schools in Karachi and Islamabad to exercise agency over their bodies and lives. It aims to achieve this by creating greater access to sport and play opportunities and by teaching financial literacy, employability, leadership and essential life skills.

Project activities

  • Training of volunteer coaches and physical education teachers in the Goal curriculum, football for development, gender equality, inclusion and child protection.
  • Regular sport and play-based sessions in schools conducted by trained coaches and teachers.
  • Sports tournaments, training camps, and thematic ‘play days’ to create awareness and dialogue in the community.
  • Junior leader clubs: select young people are helped to create school clubs and take the initiative to improve their school environment, assist coaches and encourage peer-to-peer learning.
  • Provision of equipment and rehabilitation of play spaces to facilitate safe and inclusive sessions in schools.

Expected results

  • Improved life skills (confidence, communication, leadership, decision-making, etc.) in 70% of girls.
  • Improved knowledge of budgeting, saving and other financial concepts in 70% of girls.
  • Ability to identify career goals and a better understanding of the trajectory towards strengthening their employability skills in 50% of girls.
  • Improved ability to take decisions related to agency over their bodies and lives in 40% of girls.

Partner

Positive Futures

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland
Start date 12/01/2021
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €100,000
Foundation funding €50,000
Project identifier 20210469
Partners Rio Ferdinand Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Employability - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Inequality & hate crime are rising issues in Northern Ireland & Ireland, with border towns between the two particularly at risk with relocation of migrant communities & refugees into small towns adding to existing tensions following the exit of the UK from the EU. Young people are particularly vulnerable, with tensions between communities over national identity coupled with organised criminality operating cross border leaving them at risk of participating in/being victims of negative behaviours.

Project content

This project will build community cohesion and tackle racism and xenophobia through the empowerment of young people from disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in Ireland / Northern Ireland – including those suffering economic disadvantage, racism and prejudice. We will use our project to enhance the skills, confidence and opportunities available to young people and drive a message of respect, inclusion and working together to create safer, stronger and more inclusive communities.

Objectives

This project will create an environment for young people to work together to:

  • Create spaces & opportunities for enhanced cultural understanding & to tackle the negativity of racism & xenophobia.
  • Improve the confidence, skills & experiences of young people to enable & empower them to take a lead role in delivering a message of inclusion, equality & respect in their communities.
  • Create long lasting friendships and networks across communities and cultures to tackle social exclusion and prejudice.

 

Project activities

  • Football coaching/games/tournaments bringing people together across communities/borders.
  • Workshops improving confidence, mental health/wellbeing, addressing issues of prejudice/racism/hate crime, including current/former players sharing lived experience.
  • Accredited training building skills, opportunities & networks.
  • Youth led social action projects promoting cohesion & inclusion.
  • Pathways into further education, training & employment for young people from vulnerable & excluded communities.

 

Expected results

The Positive Futures project will:

  • Engage 250 young people from disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in regular sporting activity.
  • Support 150 young people in personal development workshops and mentoring.
  • Train 100 young people in accredited vocational qualifications.
  • Deliver 4 youth led community cohesion events to bring communities together.

Partner

My time, my future

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Ecuador, Yacuambi
Start date 01/10/2022
End date 01/10/2023
Cost of the project €33,804
Foundation funding €33,804
Project identifier 20210800
Partners Fundación Humana Pueblo a Pueblo
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

FHPP-E helps children and young people play an active role in society through cultural, sporting and educational activities. Children and young people in the Yacuambi municipality in the Ecuadorian Amazon do not have adequate recreational spaces to have fun and develop their motor skills, often leaving them exposed to drugs and child labour. Child labour has a negative impact on children’s cognitive, emotional and social development, affecting their quality of life and mental health, and leaving them vulnerable without the tools they need for the future.

Project content

Regularly playing a group sport has been shown to promote social development and good health, as well as build character, discipline, decision-making skills and rule compliance, benefiting all areas of daily life. To counteract the lack of emphasis placed on extracurricular activities at school, the project seeks to get local actors involved in developing sports and football training activities for children aged 8–18 in Yacuambi municipality. The aim of the project is to provide an environment that allows the children to develop both physically and psychologically, as well as improve their social skills.

Objectives

  • To develop the motor, sports and life skills of 100 children and teenagers through the promotion of education and physical activity as a universal right.
  • To promote the practice of football as an inclusive and effective tool in improving physical and mental health.

Project activities

  • Technical and tactical football training and practical and audiovisual workshops.
  • Training in leadership, self-esteem, values, conflict resolution, a culture of peace and teamwork.
  • Creation of murals on caring for the environment and the rights of children and teenagers.
  • Improvement of sports spaces through community action.
  • Selection of the best participants through micro-cycles.
  • Technical and tactical macrocycles and physical preparation.
  • Organising and participating in local (intercommunity), national (indigenous league) and international (binational Ecuador-Peru tournament) tournaments.

Expected results

  • At least 80% of the children are technically, physically and tactically trained in football.
  • At least 80% of the children are trained in leadership, self-esteem, values, conflict resolution, a culture of peace and teamwork.
  • At least 60% of the children participate in creating murals about the environment and children’s rights.
  • At least 80% of the children participate in physical activities and education.
  • At least 40% of the children are selected for teams.
  • At least 60% of the children participate in technical and tactical macrocycles, physical preparation and goalkeeping.
  • At least 40% of the children participate in local, national and international tournaments.
  • 100% of the children participate in the opening and closing events of the project.

 

Partner

Football for peace

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Colombia
Start date 02/01/2022
End date 01/31/2023
Cost of the project €88,000
Foundation funding €78,000
Project identifier 20211084
Partners Ankla Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

Colombia has suffered internal war for more than 50 years. As many as 260,000 people have lost their lives and 7 million citizens have been displaced as internal refugees. After the peace agreement with the FARC guerrilla in 2016, people have returned to their homes. Ex-guerrilla combatants are now in reincorporation spaces, but relations with the local population are difficult. This project uses football as a tool to achieve reconciliation and peace between both groups, focusing on the children.

Project content

The project supports the peace process in Colombia by promoting human rights, coexistence and inclusion among ex-FARC combatants and the local community, while also preventing new violence, through football training and psychosocial interventions with the children. It will run for one year in four territorial spaces for training and reincorporation (TSTR: land given by the government to ex-combatants to help them reintegrate into society), benefiting 615 children of ex-combatants.

Objectives

  • Promote healthy coexistence among ex-combatants and the community using football as a tool for social integration and to prevent the resurgence of violence.
  • Promote the search for talent among the children of ex-combatants to encourage development through self-realization.
  • Provide psychosocial support for the children of ex-combatants, their families and the community, in order to restore their rights, emotional integrity, and productive reintegration into civil and family life.

Project activities

  • Collecting baseline socio-economic information
  • Training and participation in local leagues (10 football training sessions per week in each TSTR)
  • Psychosocial interventions with children and their families (eight psychosocial workshops per week in each TSTR)
  • Meetings between the community and TSTR leaders
  • Competitions and participation in various leagues

 

Expected results

  • The majority of children from the TSTRs attend the training sessions and psychosocial workshops (75%).
  • Civil society that lives around these TSTRs will accept the presence of ex-combatants in their community and are in favour of their reintegration into society (70%).
  • Improved gender equality inside football groups (30% girls at least).
  • Improvements among the children and teenagers diagnosed with various psychosocial issues over the course of 12 months (50% children with psychosocial problems due mostly to the civil war experience an improvement).
  • Through football, the children develop as persons, learn about rules and are kept away from criminal activities; coaches act as mentors. Training is a way to reach the children and their families for psychosocial interventions.

Partner

Together we live, learn and play

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Spain
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €144,468
Foundation funding €18,805
Project identifier 20211045
Partners Asociación Alacrán 1997
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

The Asociación Alacrán 1997 works in the Hortaleza district of Madrid. There is significant inequality between neighbourhoods in the Hortaleza district. Around 2,500 households live below the poverty line and struggle with housing, employment or resources. Children and teenagers living in these families face serious challenges that affect their personal and social development.

Project content

The project helps children in vulnerable situations acquire skills and positive values as a protective factor against risky behaviours and habits. The core activity is the football programme, which has a strong focus on the inclusion of girls. This gives children access to a free sports activity. The programme is complemented with socio-educational support and healthy leisure options.

Objectives

  • Protect children’s rights and alleviate the effects of poverty on girls and boys in the Hortaleza district.
  • Promote the personal and social development of girls and boys in the Hortaleza district, especially those at greatest risk and the most socially vulnerable.
  • Encourage girls to play football – a traditionally masculine space – as a way to combat prejudices and stereotypes.

Project activities

  • Football training focused on individual technical improvement and learning basic team play concepts, as well as the development of abilities, skills, attitudes and values.
  • Awareness and recruitment campaigns for girls.
  • Football tournaments.
  • Coach training.
  • Classes to help with school and teach study techniques.
  • Activities to promote group cohesion and conflict resolution.
  • Workshops to promote healthy habits and on specific topics such as sexuality, drugs and emotions.
  • Individualised follow-up.

Expected results

  • Girls and boys are encouraged to play sports
  • Girls and boys acquire or improve their abilities, skills and fundamental values
  • Increased school attendance among girls
  • Creation of an educational, protective and caring space for the participants
  • Upholding the participants’ right to equal opportunities in education by supporting them and counteracting their educational difficulties
  • Providing individual support to protect the participants and ensure their optimal development

Partner

Twinned Peace Sport Schools (TPSS)

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Israel
Start date 01/01/2022
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €97,000
Foundation funding €35,000
Project identifier 20211040
Partners The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Ties between Arab and Jewish citizens in Israel are marred by ongoing conflict that has led to discrimination, fear, and distrust of “the other” on both sides. Many of Israel’s municipalities and institutions, including schools and after-school activities, are uni-cultural leaving few opportunities for integration between Jewish and Arab children that would allow them to challenge existing preconceptions and build mutual trust and the foundations for shared living. This has been exacerbated by isolation during COVID-19.

Project content

The Peres Center’s Twinned Peace Sport Schools (TPSS) programme is an extra-curricular football-based peace education programme combining regular football training with Hebrew/Arabic language learning, cross-cultural exchange and peace education activities that promote integration, diversity and inclusion among Jewish and Arab Israeli boys and girls aged 8-12.

Objectives

The overall objective of the TPSS programme is to utilise sport as a tool for facilitating intercultural dialogue and promoting peacebuilding among Jewish and Arab children in Israel. The TPSS programme instils in Jewish and Arab children the values of sportsmanship, teamwork, inclusion and tolerance, establishing a strong foundation for further engagement between Jewish and Arab participants in other contexts throughout the children’s lives.

Project activities

TPSS programme activities include:

  • Training for community coaches: Coaches from participating communities receive training in the Peres Center’s football-based peace education methodologies, as well as in children’s rights and safeguarding, improving their awareness and their ability to provide children with quality extra-curricular educational activities.
  • Uni-cultural activity sessions: Bi-weekly football training sessions are held in the children’s own communities, supplemented with Hebrew/Arabic language learning (including greetings and football-related vocabulary) which allows the children to prepare for and process their experiences when meeting members of the other community.
  • Bicultural activity sessions: Paired groups of Jewish and Arab children meet for four joint peace education sessions. These are a chance for the children to use their new language skills to interact with each other and play football together. The innovative Fairplay method for football is used in which the participants determine the rules of the game, referee themselves and resolve conflicts on the pitch through facilitated dialogue.
  • Year-end activity: All children come together for a full day of peace education activities. This event, bringing participants from across the country together with community and cultural leaders is hugely influential for children who see their participation in the programme as part of a large-scale popular movement for peace.

Expected results

  • Facilitation of intercultural dialogue and engagement among 310 Jewish and Arab children through football.
  • Positive changes in perception, elimination of stereotypes, and the promotion of cooperation, trust and understanding in 310 Jewish and Arab children.
  • Greater access to quality extra-curricular sports and peace education in 16 Jewish and Arab communities across Israel.

Partner