In this project, Rocio Moreno seeks to promote and develop through football the empowerment of girls (from 7 to 18 years old) beneficiaries of the Smurfit Kappa Community Centre (CCSK) in Ecatepec, Mexico.

With his project, Juan Chalbaud seeks to provide a space for meeting, recreation and training for children and adolescents through football, in isolated contexts of the Chaco mountain. Through which it allows them to recognise the meaning and value of their lives and communities.

The objective of Linia is to reduce school girl child drop-out in secondary schools due to teen pregnancies from more than 50% to less than 5% and also improve girl child enrolment in secondary schools by 20% in Chiredzi through football. 

José's mission is to reduce school violence and promote a peaceful and respectful environment. We use football to promote inclusion and peaceful conflict resolution, and we promote reading in the School Library to create a safe and motivating space for both sport and academics.

Etim-Etim is the founder of The Ballcation Foundation, a social change initiative for underserved public schools in low-income Nigerian communities. This project uses football as a means to improve learning outcomes among young people between the ages of 7 and 16, equipping them with enterprise skills that are relevant for this day and age.

Knowing that soccer is used as a therapeutic treatment for children with mild autism and high-performance autism, Briselba felt compelled to create a football programme that would help equip autistic children with self-regulation strategies.

Her football project will train volunteers to provide football coaching to autistic boys and girls, helping them to improve their motor, social, and frustration tolerance skills. This will promote inclusion and hence, improve their quality of life. Not only will the self-regulation strategies be helpful on the pitch, but they can also be used by parents as an alternative to regulate the behaviour of their child at home.

Obasanjo’s football project aims to support and improve the learning outcomes of schoolgirls between the ages of 7 to 11 in the final classes (Primary 4 to 6) of a local primary school in Ota, Ogun State. The main focus of this project is to create a safe space for learning about leadership skills, as well as improving literacy and numeracy skills. In turn, this will improve learning outcomes in the classroom. During football coaching, students will be encouraged to learn collaboration, problem-solving, and responsibility skills.

Through her experiences, Phiona is aware of the sheer volume of girls who become pregnant as they are not yet capable of making informed decisions in regard to their sexual and reproductive health. Only half of the sub-counties in the district have a government health facility where sexual and reproductive health services can be accessed.

In a bid to combat this, Phiona’s football project will be based in Kalongo, a town in the Northern Region of Uganda. It’s one of the urban centers in the Agago District which has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies and school dropouts among girls in the country.

Recognising that sport can be used as a tool for substance abuse prevention, Desi, alongside his colleague, Estefanía, will use football to reduce school dropout rates by improving concentration levels, increasing school performance, relieving stress, and reducing mental health problems. Since sport generates a greater sense of well-being and optimism amongst teenagers, the football project will strengthen the self-esteem of the children, allowing them to face problems in a more responsible manner.

Ecatepec de Morelos is one of the largest and most violent municipalities in Mexico with very high school dropout rates. By working specifically with children aged 9-12 and focusing on developing football skills alongside the core academics and teaching of socio-emotional skills, our project hopes to increase the number of children who move on to secondary school.

In Uganda the average primary school dropout rate is 45% but this rate is much higher amongst girls. The project works with girls’ parents in three villages, helping them understand the need for the girls to receive an equal education while giving them the opportunity to play football on a regular basis. The project aims to improve both their physical and mental health and give them a new focus outside of the home.

At Jhamtse Children’s Community Centre in a remote region of northeast India, this Huracan project is working with children who all come from backgrounds of trauma and adversity. It has two aims; firstly to help instil a level of discipline and an understanding of responsibility in the children, and secondly to increase the participation of girls in sport. Alongside this, they will be helping to develop a number of life skills in the children and helping to broaden their outlooks for the future.

At the Alec Reed Academy in West London, the proportion of students receiving the Government’s Pupil Premium grant is above average and many children must surmount numerous challenges in order to reach their full potential. This project aims to increase student leadership skills and build confidence levels by finding ways to recognise non-academic achievements, such as football, ultimately giving the children a real sense of inspiration and direction through the sport.