Jürgen Griesbeck developed Fútbol por la Paz (Football for Peace) in 1996. This was a project using football to combat violence and drugs on the streets of Medellín, Colombia.
Based on this experience, he created Straßenfußball für Toleranz (Street Football for Tolerance) in Brandenburg, Germany. This led to birth of streetfootballworld in 2002.
streetfootballworld supports a worldwide network of organisations that uses football as a tool to empower disadvantaged young people.
It engages private and public partners to create social change. Here is some background from its web site.
http://www.streetfootballworld.org/
Every day, millions of young people around the world wake up to an uncertain future.
streetfootballworld believes in the unique power of football to change lives and bring people together behind a common goal.
Our mission is to strengthen our worldwide network of local organisations that use football to help young people overcome challenges like poverty, discrimination and lack of education.
The streetfootballworld network unites over 90 organisations in more than 60 countries.
In 2011 alone they empowered over 600,000 young people. streetfootballworld strengthens network members through capacity development programmes, and by providing access to funding, sharing expertise and creating new partnerships – because stronger network members mean better opportunities for the young people who need them most.
A beautiful game, a perfect tool
No sport in the world generates as much passion as football.
Football brings young people into social development programmes—and keeps them there. Football also gets people from all walks of life speaking the same universal language.
Establishing common ground is streetfootballworld’s first step toward uniting the global community around a shared goal.
It takes a team to win a game
streetfootballworld believes the football industry is moving into a new era, where collaboration off the pitch will be as important as competition on the pitch.
We work closely with private and public partners, both in the football sector and beyond, to channel their resources into creating a better future for young people around the world.
As a team, streetfootballworld, its partners and the streetfootballworld network aim to reach out to 2,000,000 young people worldwide every year by 2015.
Here is another video which highlights how the organisation has evolved to focus on what they now call the Common Goal.
Leave a Reply