During the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Colombia 2024™, the FIFA Foundation visited the Colombian NGOs receiving support under its community initiative
Nearly 600 children took part in various activations during the global showpiece
Over 650 beneficiaries witnessed Korea DPR overcome Japan in the tournament decider
Fifteen-year-old Laura Sofía Galo Castaño is proudly kitted out in the blue shirt, light-blue shorts and yellow socks that she received from a legendary Colombian goalkeeper.
After introducing herself, the youngster said with a smile: “For me, football is all about dreams and inspirations. It’s taught me to be responsible, friendly and caring towards others. It’s also enabled me to travel to new places and to meet René Higuita.”
Laura Sofía is one of the 80 children from Fundación Grupo Internacional de Paz y Desarrollo (GIP) who left their native Riosucio (Chocó region) for the first time on Saturday, 14 September last year to embark on the seven-hour trip to Medellín.
The FIFA Foundation gave the youngsters an unforgettable weekend in the city. As well as meeting long-time Colombia number 1 Higuita and Las Cafeteras goalkeeper Sandra Sepúlveda, the group also attended two FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ matches.
GIP is one of seven Colombian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) receiving support under the FIFA Foundation Community Programme.
Launched in 2019, the initiative provides financial and technical support to organisations that harness the power of football to bring about social change and to address global issues that affect disadvantaged children and young people.
Last year, that support reached a record-breaking 130 NGOs across 54 countries, with the number of beneficiaries since the programme was launched amounting to almost one million.
The other Colombian NGOs receiving support from the FIFA Foundation are Aldeas Infantiles SOS Colombia, Women4Biodiversity, El Rio Foundation, Fundación Colombianitos, Fundación Juventud Líder and Tiempo de Juego.
The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2024™ provided the FIFA Foundation with an ideal platform to raise awareness of the work being carried out by these NGOs, and the institution organised visits (including to tournament matches), joint activities and donations.
Peacemaking through football
“The Paz y Movimiento (Peace and Movement) project uses sport to promote development and peace. It seeks to bring about social change in territories affected by armed conflict and other violence,” said Beatriz Mejía, director and founder of GIP. In the Chocó region, over 82% of the population belong to Afro-Colombian ethnic groups and over 12% are part of Indigenous ethnic communities.
“Football is a tool like no other, it’s a universal language. We seek to use the sport as an educational tool,” added Mejía.
Iván Duque, the former President of Colombia and current member of the FIFA Foundation’s Advisory Board, participated in the event in Medellín, and he had the following to say: “Vulnerable communities need sustainable, replicable and scalable projects. The teamwork between grassroots NGOs and organisations like the FIFA Foundation is therefore key.”
Football unites families
Elsewhere in the region of Chocó, in the regional capital of Quibdó, Aldeas Infantiles SOS Colombia seeks to use the beautiful game to promote values such as cooperation, respect and solidarity through its family development centre.
Around 100 children and teenagers, plus as many of their family members, participated in the activation organised in this area of the Colombian Pacific during the global extravaganza.
“We have a perfect partnership with the FIFA Foundation because we look to bring families together with a view to enabling them to provide nurturing environments for children, and football is a great tool to get people together. It allows us to identify high-risk situations and to deploy our services to strengthen those environments,” noted Esteban Reyes, the organisation’s director.
Football and education
In the town of Buriticá, located on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia, the El Rio Foundation runs a football and tutoring project that aims to improve the level of education among the members of the local communities. A total of 140 boys and girls took part in the joint activation rolled out with the FIFA Foundation.
“Not only has participation in football grown by 300% this year, but the number of children who regularly attend our academic tutoring sessions has also increased,” explained Félix Sullivan, the foundation’s director.
“The FIFA Foundation funding enabled us to launch our first women’s youth football league. The U-20 Women’s World Cup couldn’t have come at a better time to inspire the 102 girls involved in the programme. Since the FIFA activation, enthusiasm for football has reached unprecedented levels.”
Football creates good habits and agents of change
Tiempo de Juego runs a project called Juego Sin Barreras (Play without barriers) that aims to ensure that the children and teenagers of Cazucá, a vulnerable neighbourhood in Soacha (on the outskirts of Bogotá), make the most of their free time.
The project uses play as a tool to steer participants away from the risks found in their community, such as drug abuse and gender-based violence, and to provide them with psychosocial and leadership skills to make them agents of change within their communities.
The activation brought together 60 children, with former Argentina left-back Juan Pablo Sorín in attendance as the NGO’s special guest. “The idea to launch Tiempo de Juego came about thanks to football, which is what brought the community together, caught the children’s attention and provided a safe space through these pitches. It teaches them values like teamwork and gender equality. Football teaches them life lessons,” explained the organisation’s director, Diana Rodríguez.
Football wages battle against alcohol
The project led by Fundación Colombianitos uses the game as a tool to prevent underage alcohol consumption, which may lead to the consumption of other substances, not only among teenagers but also children. The initiative is helping to improve community coexistence in Bayunca, Bucaramanga and Bogotá, which are home to some vulnerable groups (migrants, Afro-descendants and internally displaced people).
No fewer than 170 children took part in the joint activation with the FIFA Foundation, which was attended by three FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup match officials and FIFA Head of Women’s Refereeing Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb.
“Football provides an ideal platform to reflect on life, to teach strategies for learning to say ‘no’ and to manage the pressures surrounding alcohol consumption,” declared Sandra Giménez, Head of Projects at Fundación Colombianitos.
Empowering the locals and creating good environmental practices
In Puerto Nariño, a town nestled in the Amazonian region of southern Colombia, Women4Biodiversity has implemented a project that uses football to combat illegal trafficking of biodiversity in the Colombian Amazon basin.
The initiative is invaluable to an area that has witnessed the illegal trafficking of biodiversity and children, a rise in sexual exploitation of girls and threats to the culture and well-being of the Indigenous Ticuna community.
Against this backdrop, football serves as a tool to empower local youngsters and to promote good environmental practices. The FIFA Foundation donated footballs, shirts and other sports equipment to the project.
Creating positive leaders through inclusion
In Cúcuta, Fundación Juventud Líder is harnessing the power of football to foster the social inclusion of children, teenagers and young people aged between ten and 24.
The organisation aims to promote participants’ growth and their involvement in community life through a training provision focused on the development of interpersonal, social and sports skills that will enable them to become youth leaders, agents of change and positive role models for their peers. During last year’s edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Fundación Juventud Líder received a donation from the FIFA Foundation comprising a whole range of sports equipment.