Empowering Women Through Football in Colombia

Dear Friends at GlobalGiving, 

We would like to begin by thanking our friends at GlobalGiving for the support you have given to Children Change Colombia over the years. This platform and the different donors involved have been essential; your backing has had a huge impact on the lives of hundreds of children, young people, and community members throughout Colombia. Your generous support is helping keep at-risk children safe from the dangers in their communities, and is allowing them to develop important life skills and strengthen their capactiies in order to build positive futures for themselves. 

In August 2023, we launched the project: 'Football for Peace in Acadesan'. The project's success and reach has prompted us to re-launch it for a second year, for the August 2024 - August 2025 term. This project, implemented alongisde our partner Acadesan Community Council, is focused in rural Chocó, Colombia. It aims to improve young people's socio-emotional skills in order to be aware of, identify, and prevent dangerous cycles of sexual violence, sexual exploitation, and forced recruitment. This project is designed to teach, develop, and refine these skills by following the German Agency of Cooperation's 'Sports for Development' methodology: the project is fundamentally based around the teaching and practice of football in order for children to create healthy habits and behaviours. 

At the end of its first year, this project benefitted the lives of 402 children who became involved in a variety of exercise activities and joined football teams in order to play competitively against each other. Moreover, 20 teachers and community leaders trained and became certified as instructors of the 'Sports for Development' methodology. As we go into the project's next cycle and we continue to gain funding, we will be able to continue forming more football teams, thus impacting more and more children. Our ultimate goal is to create 22 teams, and uplift as many children, coaches, families, and communities as possible. 

We are thrilled to see how this project can, and will, continue to benefit the lives of at-risk Colombian children and their wider communities. With your support, we will be able to see this project blossom and flourish. 

Thank you again for all of the support!