EFDN Holds Second Welcome Through Football Webinar
EFDN hosted the second virtual webinar on the Welcome Through Football programme this morning. Five clubs and their respective foundations – Naoberschap United (FC Emmen), Fundacao Benfica, Werder Bewegt, Sheffield United Foundation and Shakhtar Social – participated in the webinar to present their concepts on how to implement the project in their communities.
Welcome Through Football is a project funded by the UEFA Foundation for Children. From January 2020, EFDN has collaborated with seven clubs to carry out this programme, and will continue to do so until June 2022. In addition to these five clubs, Everton in the Community and Apollon Limassol have joined the Welcome Through Football efforts to foster the integration of refugees and migrants into society and the labour markets. All of these clubs and their foundations are committed to promoting quality of youth work, intercultural dialogue and tolerance and acceptance of diversity in society.
During the webinar, clubs had the opportunity to share updates and objectives for their campaigns, showcasing the ways in which they have and will carry out the three-step process of socialisation to, in, and through football. Clubs discussed the importance of establishing partnerships with local and national entities like City of Sanctuary UK, the High Commission for Migration in Portugal and Refugio, as well as the need for language programmes to facilitate social inclusion and strong relations with grassroots football campaigns to place more responsibility on the shoulders of participants of the programme. Thinking then more towards the future, clubs likewise talked about setting up workshops for employability and life skills with the aim of shaping their participants as role models in their communities.
The next webinar will be hosted by EFDN on the 11th of September, when clubs will convene for the second part of the webinar to report progress and set up communication and evaluation strategies.
