The project combines football training with marine conservation, engaging with trainers and children through educational activities while teaching the principles of a healthy lifestyle, environmental protection, and active efforts for reef preservation and rehabilitation. Environmental awareness is promoted combining educational activities for theory with the practice of coral restoration. Training of trainers ensures replicability, building capacity of football trainers and restoration practitioners.
Objectives:
- Use football as a tool to motivate children to conserve the environment
- Foster children’s resilience, lowering their vulnerabilities and increasing their personal resources through football
- Innovate communication strategies on climate change and environmental awareness
- Link sport and practical reef restoration activities to create a new generation of coral guardians
- Create a replicable model for the use of sport as a link between environmental conservation and a healthy lifestyle
Description:
The project, an initiative by Italian organizations operating in the Maldives, uses football training as a way to motivate children to be engaged in the activities, boosting their skills and providing them inspiration and competences on the preservation and restoration of coral reef through dedicated sessions.
It comprises the training of 10 trainers to be prepared to run the activities with children in the 5 islands of the Faafu Atoll (Feeali, Bileiydhoo, Magoodhoo, Dharanboodhoo, Nilandhoo) and it lasts two years.
The project is coordinated by the The MaRHE Center, an organization carrying research and educational activities in the fields of environmental science and marine biology, tourism science, and human geography in the Maldives since 2009, together with the University of Milano-Bicocca and Inter Campus of the Internazionale Football Club, with the sponsorship of UEFA Foundation for children.
Impact and Results:
The direct project beneficiaries over the two years are:
- 5 islands
- More than 10 trainers
- 200 teenagers and pre-teens aged 10–14 (40 per island), 25% of which are girls
The project created trainers capable to combine football coaching skills and knowledge about environmental education and especially preservation of coral reef, ensuring a long lasting impact in . continuing to develop the new generations of coral guardians.
Conclusions and Suggestions for Youth Workers:
The activity shows that it’s very useful to utilize sport as a tool to generate interest in young people about other topics, as for example environmental sustainability. This can be adapted to many different contexts and sports, but it definitely can represent a way to catch the interest of young people through playful sportive initiatives.
Moreover, it shows how it’s useful to create dedicated long-term programmes to guarantee long-lasting impact, and to concentrate on specific environmental protection skills, which can be perceived as more important and give a feeling of satisfaction to the participating youth.
Links for reference: https://uefafoundation.org/action/playing-with-corals-football-as-a-gateway-toward-climate-action-and-marine-awareness/
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