Dear friends,
I am writing to share an update report showing all the developments we have done so far.
In the Philippines, children haven't been to public school for over 200 days (and counting) and there is no expectation they will reopen this year. 23 million children (80% of all students) depend on the public education system, and these children have been left without any access to education. The educational consequences of coronavirus will last beyond the period of school closures, disproportionately affecting marginalised girls. Girls are at greater risk of not returning back to school due to COVID-19.
Our goal is to make sure girls will go back to school after COVID-19 and to keep the girls motivated and engaged in learning activities in these hard times. At the end of July, we started with COVID-19 learning sessions for children in Tacloban and Palo, but due to another lockdown we had to unfortuantely cancel the session. As a result of the lockdown, children up to the age of 21 are not allowed to leave their houses and are therefore obligated to stay at home.
To address this problem Girls Got This has been actively busy setting up online learning sessions for these girls. The session include: programming skills for girls, mentorship trainings by our Girls Got This Ambassadors and coaches and girls empowerment classes were we focus on self confidence, self belief and self worth, to make sure the girls can use their struggles as a strength, and most importantly, keep talking about their dreams and how they can achieve them.
To show emotional support during lockdown participants of the Philippine National Female Football made motivational videos for the girls, here they shared their journeys of becoming professional athletes, as a woman, what motivated them to succeed plus a few words of wisdom for the girls in our programme. Pauline Lopez, Gold Medalist winner in Taekwondo, has been doing online live sessions with small groups of girls. Here she shared some of her experiences and major highlights of learnings of her journey of becoming a high profile athlete.
Girls Got This continued doing food relief and hygiene kits for the most vulnerable girls and their families in the Philippines.We have shared over 400 food packs and hygiene kits in Tacloban region and will be handing out Girls Power Packs in the Northern Tacloban next week. These packs include sanitary napkins, special hygiene materials for women, baby powder for young mothers and activity books for girls in lockdown without any internet access. The activity books include educational resources as well as emotional support exercises that the girls can do at home while in lockdown.
To reflect back on our previous report, we continued with the 'Stand With Girls' campaign and we have reached over a 100 Girls Got This ambassadors, who are raising awareness for the problems girls in the Philippines face, especially during lockdown. We are still going strong with our 'stay at home' videos, which are shared on our social media platforms twice a week, to keep the children healthy and entertained during lockdown. We are very happy to announce that our Girls Got This project got shortlisted for the Beyond Sport Global Award 2020! Please follow the journey to see how we are promoting Decent Work & Economic Growth!
Thank you for all your support, which is what makes our work possible.
For more information, follow our Girls Got This on Facebook or Instagram!
Stay safe, healthy and active during these very difficult times.
Best wishes,
Melissa Karadana
Links:
Dear Friends,
I am writing to share an update report showing all the developments we have done so far.
As you know the pandemic made it difficult for us to do our regular practices, therefore we had to adapt and created an COVID-19 response for our Girls Got This project.
Girls Got This has established a Mentorship Champions Network. This brings together local and global mentors who believe in the GGT mission, to be role models for the girls and to raise awareness of the project in the Philippines and abroad.
A core activity of the network has been the highly successful global ‘stand with girls’ campaign, in which high-profile athletes, media influencers and business leaders from all over the world are raising awareness of the problems faced by girls in the Philippines, especially now during the lockdown. The network now features more than 70 'girl champions' role models to help girls. The reach of the network exceeds 8 million people across social media platforms.
FundLife has set-up another GlobalGiving campaign to raise money for emergency survival packs for families who have no safety net against the loss of work and income. Here, the #StandWithGirls project made sure that there was a special focus on girls, women and young mothers. We have distributed more than 475 special hygiene kits for girls, women and young mothers and delivered over 21,500 foodpacks to different districts in Cebu. Our coaches also supported a community-led soup kitchen for more than 200 children in AFC Village Palo, Leyte
We have also created a special ‘Coronavirus Prevention Individual Session Plan’ to share safety measures for COVID-19 and explain why social distancing is so important. In the session plan we focused on home-based exercises, proper hand-washing technique and challenges for children to practise: all to boost their welfare and help minimise the negative impact of COVID-19.
Girls Got This Champions and our own Girls Got This coaches have created additional videos for girls to follow to stay healthy and entertained during lockdown, which we share on all our social media platforms and groups. These videos feature a small warm-up program, technical exercises and challenges for the girls - along with suggestions for house-friendly alternatives to footballs. Maintaining communication networks to keep children in contact (virtually) with one another and with role models.
Thank you for all your support, which is what makes our work possible.
For more information, follow our Girls Got This on Facebook or Instagram!
Please stay safe during these difficult days for us all.
Best wishes,
Melissa Karadana
It has been a busy few months! We leave full details below and look forward to some very exciting developments over the coming few weeks!
Here are the last three months in review!
DECEMBER
December just like last year, the Philippines took a hit from two strong typhoons. But, the weather may have gone
cold but the fire in the hearts of the people who continuously support FundLife to provide equal opportunity for
children continued to burn.
In Cebu, with the efforts of Football for Life Academy coaches and support of Guiseppe Football Club, SK Federation
of Cebu City, Gerry’s Grill, Odysseus Rings, Suarez’ Arts, Leylam and Ponce Birthing Clinic the 2nd Capitol Cup was
successfully held at Green Valley Subdivision Capitol Site Cebu City. The event allowed 158 youth from 18 football
community teams all over Cebu to experience competitive and fun football games with the emphasis of fair play and
sportsmanship.
In the southern part of the Philippines, another big celebration was successfully held as we partnered with Gawad
Kalinga to host the 2019 Sama-Sama Games (SSG) – an annual football event at Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
More than 100 youth competed in various categories as part of the event’s promotion on equality and opportunity for
all children especially those who are from disadvantaged communities.
Congratulations to all the winners, and participants and a huge thank you to Gawad Kalinga, its staff and local
partners — MFC and Malaybalay City Sports Development Office for making this event possible.
As 2019 ends the organization takes pride in the success of the children and youth within the program for winning
various school-based sports competitions, achieving academic awards and recognition for embodying sportsmanship,
respect, and self-discipline.
Children celebrate at The FFLA-Cebu Capitol Cup 2019
Such achievements of children within the program does not only proves the effectiveness of the efforts that the local
and foreign volunteer coaches are extending in coaching and educating children not just in sports but also the
essential skills that they need to survive and succeed in their lives as a complement to their formal education.
It’s a wrap!
JANUARY
2019 ended with the achievements of our children and this 2020, FundLife, welcomes the new year with pride as the
Department of Education Tacloban division recognizes the organization as one of its “Outstanding partners” towards
the delivery of effective experiential learning for children and youth. - http://bit.ly/3c2ScYu
The award also recognizes FundLife’s efforts in supporting public school teachers towards effective teaching through
its organized training and workshops centred on the proper use of physical activities and play in engaging with
learners.
Let’s take another prideful shout for the organization as one of its front liners, coach John Paul Masubay brought
home the “Future GA F4D Coach Award” from Doha, Qatar.
Save the best for last!
FundLife formally announced this month the Generation Amazing Community Center Project which will be made
possible with the support from Generation Amazing. http://bit.ly/2I2TOUd
The GACC -The first integrated learning centre for children from displaced communities in Tacloban North is an
initiative led by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
FEBRUARY
With the support of the Arsenal in the community coaches and German volunteer, Malte Helms children continue to
enjoy their time learning while playing though not in the field but inside their classrooms.
With Cebu nothing, much was changes despite the fear of NCoV. The local coaches in Cebu continued the after
school sessions with the girls in SMS and with children from Banilad and Capitol.
Now that the suspension of the off-campus activities had already been lifted children are again happy to be out in
the field and participate in the football training sessions with their coaches and mentors.
Children gather for the Coppa Leyteno on Feb 8th in Tacloban
That's almost a wrap for November - probably our busiest month of the year with action-packed activities for coaches, players, teachers and the team!
Links:
Dear friends,
A little later than usual, here is a round-up of the exciting happenings at FL HQ last June and July...
We kick things off with big news! We are teaming up with Toby’s Sports, the country's leading sports retailer, to give consumers the chance to support the Girls Community League (GCL).
The ‘Get the Chain, Let them Play’ campaign includes the availability of special UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Keychains across 15 of their stores, including their flagship store in Bonifacio Global City (BGC).
The announcement is an important step as we continue to seek sustainable ways to provide even more girls with access to equitable participation in sports and education. For more information on how you can become a champion for the ‘Get the Chain, Let them Play’ campaign, click here.
On the subject of the Girls League, July saw the inaugural season of Cebu GCL culminated as Labogon FC was crowned champions. During the course of six months that the league was active, 240 adolescent girls aged 15-18 played over 160 futsal matches and benefited from 75 hours of developmental support from young coaches.
We see every day the impact that these purposeful play and education sessions have on girls and boys. Last month, GCL Tacloban player, Nikki, shared ‘why she plays’ and what she aspires to be once she graduates school.
In June, we teamed up up with Gawad Kalinga’s SipagG, to start our ‘Play for Peace’ initiative in Northern Mindanao, which will support communities through on-going support to children affected by conflict. We are excited about the collaboration and look forward to sharing more in the coming months.
Meanwhile, in Tacloban, the city’s first Arsenal Soccer Clinic took place, attracting new children to take up the sport while interacting with parents about the benefits purposeful play has on children. Arigato Al and Oscar!
And all these small steps add up. Just ask Coach JP, who, with a spectacular assist from our friends at SSH, was given the opportunity to travel from Tacloban to Chicago and enjoy the CONCACAF Gold Cup final alongside FIFA Vice President, Victor Montagliani. You can the detailed story of JP's journey here.
The month also saw a new teammate join us as the SOL Foundation committed to supporting our work in Tacloban and Cebu. We are looking forward to working with their committed team over the coming months.
As we look ahead to GCL Season #2, we are encouraged that our team gets stronger, our dreams start to become less audacious and our calls for equal global opportunity, less unreasonable.
In full colour,
FL Team
Links:
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