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MUMBAI: Soccer’s governing body Fifa has approved a further 27 programmes in 24 countries, at a total cost of $ 1 million, as part of its Football for Hope movement. |
Of those organisations with mostly long-running programmes that are set to receive support from FIFA, 12 are in Africa with a further nine in North, Central and South America, four in Europe and two in Asia.
One of them is the Child Link India Foundation. These additional programmes, whose inclusion has been ratified by the sub-committee of the Committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility, will take Football for Hope to a whole new dimension. The movement already uses the power of football to support more than 60 programmes in 40 different countries via concrete, sustainable projects.
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Fifa president Joseph S Blatter says, "Fifa takes its social responsibility very seriously as part of its aim to build a better future. That is why we have declared Football for Hope to be a movement and an activity of strategic importance and we are proud that we are now in a position to support more organisations in their work." The Football for Hope movement is the key element of a strategic alliance led by FIFA and streetfootballworld, the driving force behind a global network of non-governmental organisations that develops projects in which football is the common denominator. The objective of the Football for Hope movement is to support, advise and strengthen sustainable social and human development programmes in the areas of healthcare, children’s rights, education, peace promotion, anti-discrimination, social integration and the environment. By drawing on its huge potential, football will be in a position to help the United Nations reach its Millennium Goals by 2015. Following the example set by the industrialised nations in 2002 with their agreement to earmark 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product for international development aid, FIFA has also decided to invest at least the same percentage of its overall income in worldwide social developments through football. The other organisations that now belong to the Football for Hope movement include United Action for Children in Cameroon, Youth in Action Sierra Leone, Grassroot Soccer in South Africa and England’s Nacro. |
