Football With No Limits

Location and general information

Context

Cañada Real – a 16km long, 75m wide shanty town on the outskirts of Madrid – is one of the poorest areas in Spain. It is also the largest shanty town in Europe and is commonly referred to as the ‘slum of shame’. It is home to 30,000 people living in insanitary conditions, including large numbers of Moroccan and Roma families. This illegal settlement is also home to numerous drug dealers, who supply the local population. The general insecurity of life in Cañada Real is compounded by the negative impact on children’s education, with academic failure and drop-out rates 40% higher than the national average.

Project content

Against the background of the sometimes strained relations between the various communities that live together in Cañada Real, this programme organised by Red Deporte y Cooperación uses the power of football and the football3 methodology to foster dialogue with a view to resolving conflict. The programme also involves a concerted effort to get more girls playing football. By establishing mixed teams comprising players from various different communities, the organisers seek to remove the barriers and prejudices that divide the people living in Cañada Real. Moreover, in order to maximise the impact on the lives of the programme’s beneficiaries, Red Deporte y Cooperación also supplements its recreational sporting activities with educational workshops aimed at helping children to return to school or find work.

Objectives

  • Foster harmonious relations between the various communities living together in Cañada Real
  • Get more girls playing football
  • Boost beneficiaries’ self-confidence
  • Encourage children to obtain an education and/or provide them with the tools they need in order to find work.

Expected results

  • Organisation of 150 training sessions
  • Hosting of three football festivals for 1,500 children from Cañada Real
  • Organisation of 30 educational workshops on the subject of education, health and employability
  • Fostering of communication and cultural exchange through the organisation of tournaments in Cañada Real and elsewhere in Spain
  • Training of ten coaches, ten referees and three coordinators so they can run the Cañada CF football club

Partners

A new start for refugee kids in Lebanon

Location and general information

Context

Since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011, Lebanon has taken in an increasing number of refugees, with the UNHCR reporting almost 1.1 million Syrian refugees having arrived in the country.

Considering the excessive damage inflicted to housing and other infrastructure inside Syria, many refugees can be expected to remain in Lebanon until reconstruction and political stabilisation in Syria makes their return feasible.

One out of every two of the registered refugee population is under the age of 17 – a risk group acutely exposed to the effects of trauma. Guaranteeing access to education for this target group is a key priority for the Lebanese government, UN agencies and non-governmental aid agencies.

The overall objective of this project is to support the capacity of the Lebanese state to provide assistance to Lebanese host communities and Syrian refugees who suffer from the effects of displacement in the fields of education, trauma mitigation and social cohesion.

Project content

The increasing number of refugee families residing in Lebanon presents significant challenges. Among the needs, a particular concern is to ensure that Syrian refugee children are able to access education while in displacement. This not only serves the purpose of safeguarding a need for continuity in formal education but also for providing a platform that mitigates traumatising stress elements. The volume of the influx of refugees is increasing the pressure on Lebanon’s education system as well as, in general, its society, economy, politics and security.

‘FutbolNet’ is a programme of the FC Barcelona Foundation that uses football as a tool to promote values among young people through an innovative teaching methodology, serving as a catalyst for capacity development, community resilience and social cohesion. It is a very attractive socialisation initiative that offers locally adapted training and content aiming to strengthen local level capacities.

This project proposes to work with child refugees and non-refugees as a way of improving the coexistence between schoolchildren and reducing existing aggressive behaviours. Given the huge increase of refugees who enter the Lebanese public-education system, tensions inevitably affected cohesion in schools. Our proposal aims to train Physical Education teachers to enable spaces to build relationship between refugees and non-refugees as an investment for an improved future coexistence between the population living in Lebanon.

Objective 

The overall objective of the project is to support the capacity of the Lebanese public school system to provide assistance to Lebanese host communities and to help refugees cope with the effects of displacement in the fields of education, trauma mitigation and social cohesion.

Project activities

1. Diagnosis and preparation: The FC Barcelona Foundation needed to gain an understanding of the context, target and the venues in which the activities would take place.

2. Content adaptation: An adaptation process between the FC Barcelona Foundation FutbolNet experts and the local partner took place to adapt the FutbolNet methodology to the local reality, culture and society without compromising the basics of the FutbolNet programme.

3. Seminar

    a. Coaches seminar: three-day seminar delivered locally by FC Barcelona Foundation official instructors. Included both theoretical and practical sessions.
    b. Continuous learning: Periodic visits by FCBF coaches to support the local coaches and prepare special training sessions for the participants.

4. Implementation: The project was implemented in coordination with a number of Lebanese educational and social stakeholders.

5. Monitoring and evaluation.

Expected results

The project benefited 7,907 children, 55% boys and 45% girls, 79% of whom were Lebanese nationals and 21% refugees, mostly from Syria. The project also benefited 85 physical education teachers from 79 Lebanese state from the six regions of the country.

Other results were:
– The Lebanese state school system benefited from the increased competencies of physical education teachers and from the provision of sports equipment to the schools.
– Sports activities mitigated the trauma of refugee children and reduce aggressive behaviour.
– Sports activities benefited Lebanese and refugee children as a mechanism to promote social cohesion, both among refugees and between refugee and host communities in mixed environments.
– The project discouraged school drop-out rates among registered refugee children and encouraged unregistered refugees to attend school.

Partners

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Social Cohesion through Football in Lebanon

 

Location and general information

CONTEXT

Lebanon’s refugee crisis, which is now into its sixth year, has surpassed all of the very worst predictions made. Lebanon now has the highest refugee-to-population ratio in the world, hosting nearly 1.2 million registered refugees. With about 28% of those refugees between the ages of 10 and 24, this crisis is having a disproportionate impact on children and young people.

The crisis has also had a significant impact on Lebanon itself – be it politically, economically or socially – and the country’s fragile security has been placed under considerable strain.

In such circumstances, adolescents and young people are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. In addition to being susceptible to risky behaviour, they are also at risk of being recruited by criminal gangs and militia groups fighting in local and regional conflicts. And yet, largely as a result of the sheer scale of the Syrian crisis, humanitarian aid and relief efforts have focused primarily on younger children and prioritised their needs instead. Programmes aimed at older children and young adults have been both fewer in number and smaller in scope and scale.

PROJECT CONTENT

Using sport to foster development and social cohesion has proved to be a particularly effective means of engaging with vulnerable young people. As several assessments have confirmed, inter- and intra-community sports activities/events are a powerful tool in this regard, bringing together vulnerable children and young people from different backgrounds and allowing them to interact and play together in a safe neutral environment. Sport has also been shown to foster self-confidence, personal development and teamwork, benefiting all areas of an adolescent’s life.

This programme does more than just help individual young people and organisations; it encourages those beneficiaries to become agents of change within their own families and communities. Thus, the project is constructed in such a way that its impact will extend far beyond the number of direct beneficiaries, continuing to have a positive effect long after the programme has officially come to an end. Those beneficiaries are given all the skills and grassroots support that they need in order to impart their knowledge to other marginalised young people and implement programmes of their own, with the ultimate aim of spreading the football3 message across the country and encouraging the fostering of personal development through sport.

Sport has a particularly important role to play when it comes to children with special needs and girls in general. Stereotypes, social norms and traditions have traditionally resulted in football – and sport in general – being off limits to them. Opening up sports programmes to those children, giving them the opportunity not only to learn key life skills, but also to explore avenues that are typically closed to them, will help them to integrate into wider society and encourage them to actively question social norms. The football3 methodology encourages all participants to address issues such as inclusion, tolerance, fair play and equal rights – and for girls in particular, it gives them a tangible opportunity to exercise their rights, both on and off the field.

OBJECTIVES

1) Identify and train 185 sports providers (volunteer youth leaders and coaches), teaching them the football3 methodology and complementary skills (including life skills, communication skills and conflict management techniques)

2) Have 4,500 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14 (50% refugees and 50% from the host community; 60% male and 40% female) participating in regular sports activities fostering social integration, with an additional focus on life skills and health messages

3) Have at least 2,400 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14 participating in thematic tournaments and community sports events that foster social cohesion and integration into host communities

4) Develop a nationwide strategy encouraging the fostering of social cohesion through sport, in cooperation with existing partners and NGOs

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

    • Train coaches and youth leaders in conflict management, complementary skills and the football3 methodology

ANERA is training 90 coaches and 95 youth leaders to work on sports-for-education in 100 popular football clubs across Lebanon. The coaches are already active in the sports clubs, teaching new techniques and methodologies.  The youth leaders will be youth identified in ANERA’s current program as active youth who demonstrate leadership capacity in the community. This training programme aims to improve outreach, increase capacity, provide ideas for better, more professional sports activities and improve coaching. This is achieved through 60 training/coaching sessions addressing both technical sports skills and life skills.

    • Organise 150 sports courses, reaching 4,500 adolescent and youth girls and boys

Trained coaches and youth leaders run sports courses for children with a view to promoting and establishing sports activities in areas where access to sport is limited or non-existent. Those sessions are tailored to the needs of each target group, with eight to twelve 90-minute sessions being run each month (i.e. with a minimum of 12 hours of instruction a month), and they can be repeated if there is sufficient demand. The sessions also cover life skills and issues of hygiene, fostering personal development, with coaches and youth leaders passing on everything they have learnt in their own training.

    • Organise eight thematic inter- and intra-community tournaments and sporting events, with a minimum of 300 boys and girls participating in each event for a total of 2,400 adolescents and youth (with themes including nutrition, hygiene and life skills)

ANERA is also supporting eight sports tournaments (three in Beirut, four in the Bekaa region and three in the south of the country), with a total of at least 2,400 boys and girls taking part in inter- and intra-community activities aimed at fostering social cohesion and integration. This initiative empowers young people and youth-led groups to organise sports events and tournaments, helping to nurture relations between sports clubs and youth-led groups from different areas. These events, which represent an opportunity to bring together representatives of refugee populations and host communities, feature specific elements aimed at fostering peace, communication and social cohesion (rather than rivalry) between participants from different backgrounds.

PARTNERS

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Royal Europa 90 Kraainem FC

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Kraainem football club is located just outside Brussels. Last year, the club decided to take action in the refugee crisis, believing in the power of football for social cohesion. The club’s officials contacted the Belgian federal agency for the reception of refugees and developed a programme to welcome unaccompanied minors to their training, offering French classes and a meal as well. The initiative was very well received and the club welcomed 350 young boys over the course of the year.

AID PLANS

The club is requesting funding to support the continuation of its pilot initiative to use football to support 700 unaccompanied minors aged 13 to 18. The youngsters will be offered the opportunity to participate in the club’s training sessions and take French language classes taught by local volunteers. In addition, they will receive training equipment and a meal.

To develop this project, the club wishes to lobby for their approach to be used by other clubs as well, and for its recognition as a leading example of the integration of refugees through football.

BENEFICIARIES

700 accompanied minors.

LINK

www.kraainemfootball.be

OUR PARTNERS

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Organisation Earth

Earth Refugees

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Organisation Earth is a Greek non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 2010. Its mission is the development of the concept of environmental and social intelligence, by providing experiential, non-formal education for sustainable development for all ages, introducing key sustainability issues into everyday life, primarily through learning activities.

Education for sustainable development promotes knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a better future for society as a whole, using methods that motivate and empower the learners to change their behaviour and take action for a new economic model that takes into account the social and environmental impact.

AID PLANS

Organisation Earth is using the funding from the UEFA Foundation for Children as an incentive to introduce football activities into their work.

The organisation has a large amount of experience in working in refugee camps in Greece, providing services and opportunities to refugees that go beyond providing accommodation and food, but foster critical thinking and the ability to take informed decisions.

The organisation plans to provide a football field and activities to 100 young people aged between 10 and 18 who live in the Sounio refugee camp in Athens. The football field will be a safe place in the camp that will help the young people to improve their health and well-being.

BENEFICIARIES

100 children.

LINK

www.organizationearth.org

OUR PARTNERS

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Movement on the Ground

Movement on the Ground

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Movement on the Ground is a foundation responding to a humanitarian crisis affecting the innocent men, women and children forced from their homes by climate change, poverty and war.

The organisation wants to provide structural support to major transit camps on Lesvos and the Greek mainland in the form of heat, shelter and hot food.

AID PLANS

Movement on the Ground plans to build a football pitch in the refugee camp in Lesvos to introduce football3 activities to help camp residents deal with their traumatic situation.

Movement on the Ground is already working in the camp and therefore has access to the local infrastructure and is in contact with camp officials.

The proposal is part of a bigger vision – a plan to restructure the refugee camp into an open campus with numerous opportunities for long and short-term residents.

BENEFICIARIES

2,500 to 5,000 child refugee.

LINK

www.movementontheground.com

OUR PARTNERS

Logo street football world Logo Movement on the Ground

Football Friends

Football Friends

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

The tumult and violence of the nineties crippled all aspects of society in the republics of the former Yugoslavia, and the region’s young people continue to be affected by their countries’ recent past. In 2005, Football Friends was created to help this younger generation transform their lives and to help heal the fragmented societies in which they are growing up.

In cooperation with organisations such as the British Council and various town councils, Football Friends facilitates educational initiatives in conjunction with non-formal educational institutions to enhance youth development. The organisation currently runs football programmes across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia which have served more than 4,500 participants since 2005.

AID PLANS

Programmes named ‘With a little help of Football Friends’

  • To use football as a vehicle to foster social inclusion and cohesion.
  • To target communities with a high proportion of refugees and migrants.
  • Core activity: the Football Friends City League, with mixed-gender teams competing on selected weekends and playing in leagues within their cities.
  • The highest-ranked teams will be invited for a two-day grand finals tournament.
  • Besides football, participants will have a chance to participate in educational activities.

BENEFICIARIES

336 children aged between 14 and 18.

LINK

www.streetfootballworld.org

OUR PARTNERS

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Cross Cultures Project Association

Cross Culture Project

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Cross Cultures Project Association is a politically independent non-profit organisation that exists for the purpose of promoting peaceful coexistence and social cohesion between people of different cultures and backgrounds. Since 1998 its activities have involved more than 950,000 children, 52,000 parents and 79,000 local volunteers.

AID PLANS

  • Seven-day summer camp for 60 young people aged between 16 and 20.
  • From those attending, 50% are young internally displaced persons from South Ossetia and Abkhazia and 50% of each group will be young women.
  • To foster personal exchange between the internally displaced persons and young people from the host communities.
  • To improve the participants’ life skills and give both groups the chance to be trained as youth coaches to volunteer in the Cross Cultures Project Association Open Fun Football Schools during the 2016/17 season.
  • 1,200 additional indirect participants (aged 8 to 12) through activities led by project graduates.

BENEFICIARIES

60 young adults aged 16 and over.

LINK

www.ccpa.eu/

OUR PARTNERS

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Sport dans la Ville

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Sport dans la Ville is France’s leading non-profit association serving disadvantaged young people aged 7 to 25, through sports and job-readiness training. Founded in 1998, Sport dans la Ville operates in 26 urban neighbourhoods and has touched the lives of more than 12,000 young people across France.

Through free football and basketball programmes, Sport dans la Ville imparts the values of teamwork, self-confidence and determination, leading young people towards brighter futures. Its programmes are supported by partnerships with local and national governments, corporations, individuals and international exchange partners in the US, the UK, Brazil and India. Its professional skills training and job placement programme is moving young people from unemployment to opportunity.

AID PLANS

Sport dans la Ville plans to integrate 50 refugees into its regular programmes:

  • Young refugees will be offered weekly football-based education activities.
  • Participants aged 14 and over will have the chance to take part in employability and job training workshops.

BENEFICIARIES

50 children.

LINK

www.sportdanslaville.com

OUR PARTNERS

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AMANDLA EduFootball

AMANDLA EduFootball

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

AMANDLA EduFootball is an international non-profit organisation based in South Africa and Germany. The organisation’s mission is to create safe spaces that bring together the power of football and learning to empower young people and change lives in South Africa’s most impoverished townships. AMANDLA uses football as a medium to attract and engage thousands of vulnerable young people in holistic education programmes.

AID PLANS

The Safe-Hub initiative is a replication in Berlin of an award-winning football-based education programme from South Africa.

  • 4,500 young people, primarily refugees and young people with migrant backgrounds, to be involved.
  • Activities to teach important life skills to empower young people to deal with their everyday challenges.
  • Goal: for young people to become active citizens in their society.

The UEFA Foundation for Children is supporting AMANDLA EduFootball in the planning phase of the Hub they are building in Berlin. – the funding will cover the cost of the development and adaptation of curriculum material and the training of trainers. The programme with the kids will start in 2018.

BENEFICIARIES

90 coaches and 4,500 minors.

LINK

www.edufootball.org/

OUR PARTNERS

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RheinFlanke and FC Internationale Berlin 1980 EV

Rheinflanke and FC Internationale Berlin 1980 EV

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

RheinFlanke actively supports young people in their personal development to become responsible citizens in society. Their focus is on linking street football activities to educational opportunities. Football activities provide an easy entry point for participants to get involved in the education programmes. The organisation is a social service provider with a mission to create long-term and sustainable social projects for disadvantaged young people, particularly those with migrant backgrounds.

AID PLANS

Football sessions at schools with special welcome classes for refugees in Berlin.

  • All sessions will include 50% pupils with refugee backgrounds and 50% local pupils.
  • The pupils will be accompanied by a social worker.
  • Both groups will be helped to overcome barriers to social interaction.
  • There will be a platform for the participants to access further social services.
  • A further 700 young people will be reached through six tournaments, which will also include teams from other organisations working with young refugees.

BENEFICIARIES

920 (all minors).

LINK

www.rheinflanke.de/

OUR PARTNERS

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Diogenes NGO

The GREEK NATIONAL HOMELESS TEAM

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Diogenes is the Homeless World Cup national partner in Greece, and has worked with refugees since it was set up in 2010.

In addition to welcoming refugees onto its football programme, Diogenes works with a large network of support from other NGOs and state and local governments to provide them with shelter, assistance with their legal status and access to education, Greek language lessons and medical and legal services.

Most of the refugees it works with come from Afghanistan and Iraq.

AID PLANS

Diogenes manages the Greek homeless team. Half the players are refugees or asylum seekers.

  • Five tournaments will be held on a portable pitch in areas across Greece that have large numbers of refugees.
  • Funding will also be used to expand the programme to offer regular football training in Thessaloniki.

BENEFICIARIES

720 children and young adults aged 14 and over.

LINK

www.shedia.gr and www.homelessworldcup.org

OUR PARTNERS

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The Scort Foundation and FC Basel 1893

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

The Football Club Social Alliance, established and managed by the Scort Foundation, is a network of European professional football clubs united for social responsibility. Together with local partners, the Alliance clubs train young men and women to become football coaches and social role models. These young coaches are encouraged to apply their newly developed social and sporting skills by getting actively involved in their communities and regularly organising football activities for disadvantaged children. The Football Club Social Alliance’s goal is for these young men and women to act as multipliers, using football as a sustainable tool to promote health and inclusion, convey core values and foster children’s development.

The vision of the Scort Foundation is a world in which all children living in difficult circumstances are able to play sport and are inspired to subsequently develop positive social skills and aspirations. The Football Club Social Alliance inspires and empowers young leaders to act as role models for people in their local communities.

AID PLANS

Young Coach Education Programme for coaches of young internally displaced persons in deprived areas.

  • Well-designed and holistic methodology.
  • Intensive engagement through a year-long programme, fostering a positive relationship between young internally displaced persons and young people from host communities.
  • Reducing tensions in affected communities.
  • Strengthening local structures to create a peaceful society.
  • Additional indirect young beneficiaries through activities led by graduates of the programme.

BENEFICIARIES

40 young adults.

LINK

www.scort.ch/scort/ and www.scort.ch/

OUR PARTNERS

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Champions ohne Grenzen

Champions Ohne Grenzen

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Champions ohne Grenzen has been carrying out sport and cultural work for several years, leading to the establishment of a culture in Berlin and Brandenburg of welcoming refugees. Champions ohne Grenzen is using football to support refugees in Berlin.

AID PLANS

  • Playing football will give refugees the opportunity to get to know their new country and strengthen their self-esteem at the same time.
  • Participants will be empowered to navigate their new surroundings, with support regarding the legal aspects of asylum.
  • Champions ohne Grenzen advocates the reduction of barriers to refugees entering the club system and educates stakeholders in sport and politics about the challenges that refugees face.

BENEFICIARIES

750 children and young adults.

LINK

www.championsohnegrenzen.com

OUR PARTNERS

Logo street football world Logo of Champions ohne Grenzen

 

Fundación Red Deporte y Cooperación

Football pitch with kids playing

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Based in Spain and the US, Fundación Red Deporte y Cooperación uses the power of sport to empower young people in disadvantaged communities throughout Africa, Latin America and eastern Europe.

Its programmes are focused on leadership, life skills, gender equality, HIV prevention, hygiene, basic health education and the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. The organisation also strives to promote intercultural integration through sport in migrant communities throughout Spain.

AID PLANS

Weekly football training sessions will serve as a tool to incentivise young refugees and local marginalised groups with migrant backgrounds, such as Romani youngsters, to go to school and improve their academic performance.

With ten years of experience in the field of development through sport, Fundación Red Deporte y Cooperación can bring valuable expertise and networking capabilities to the streetfootballworld network, and will also promote the network’s vision in Spain.

BENEFICIARIES

1,200 children and young adults.

LINK

www.streetfootballworld.org

OUR PARTNERS

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Oltalom Sport Association

Refugees playing football

LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

OUR AIM

Oltalom Sport Association (OSA) was founded by a group of individuals and civil organisations in 2005. Its goal is to use sport as a tool to improve the self-esteem of disadvantaged people and promote a healthy lifestyle. Since 2006 it has regularly participated in international tournaments and spread the message to its players that they are special.

OSA’s mission is to use the power of football to motivate young people to study and have a goal in life, and to use the love of football to bring together a wide range of different social groups.

OSA believes that fair play in sport can help to fight racism and increase social tolerance and that playing football helps people to be able to work in a team and experience the power of being part of a team. Using all the social skills learned at the training sessions, they can provide for themselves, be useful members of society and have a better life. Participating in an international tournament makes them believe that hard work pays off, and that dreams can come true. OSA helps to change society by reducing racism and increasing tolerance.

AID PLANS

  • Weekly training sessions specifically for refugees and migrants in the vicinity of refugee shelters, using a portable pitch.
  • Tournaments and a football camp to foster interaction between Hungarians and refugees and to facilitate the process of integration.

BENEFICIARIES

560 children and young adults, of which 160 are refugees.

LINK

www.utcaifoci.hu

OUR PARTNERS

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