The UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, through its Antenna Office in the Dominican Republic, joined the first National Edition 2021 of the Campus Program organized by the FIFA Foundation and the Dominican Football Federation.
The activity, which takes place from August 14 to 22 in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, brings together 117 boys and girls between 10 and 13 years of age who alternate soccer training activities with other collaborative dynamics, plus a group of 10 young leaders who are trained as coaches, all from the La Canela community, maintaining gender balance among all participants, and taking advantage of the school break.
The program includes medical consultations attended by Ministry of Public Health staff, soccer festivals and tournaments, sessions on social issues related to the SDGs and recreational activities. It takes place at the Cibao FC Stadium, a high-level training center in this northern city of the Dominican Republic. It provides high-level soccer experience and training facilitated by the FIFA Foundation through a multidisciplinary approach to education.
Together with the FIFA Foundation, UNESCO joined other public and private entities in this important effort by organizing four sessions with adolescents based on the online training resource The Values of Sport in Every Classroom: A Guide to Teaching Respect, Equity and Inclusion. The workshops held on August 19 focused on the theme of the Guide: “Equal or fair play?” and aimed to help children understand the concepts of equality and fairness, participating in a game that offers equal and fair opportunities to win and reflecting on their experience.
The Campus Program in the Dominican Republic was honored with the presence of Youri Djorkaeff, CEO of the FIFA Foundation and world soccer champion (France, 1998), who led the daily soccer training sessions.
The FIFA Foundation is committed to developing tomorrow’s champions on and off the pitch, believing that free time represents an opportunity for children to dream and reach their potential. As a result, the FIFA Foundation developed the Campus Program, an initiative adaptable to each local reality that gives children from vulnerable contexts the opportunity to play and learn in a safe space during school vacations.
