Shakhtar and UNFPA extend cooperation

Shakhtar and UNFPA extend cooperation

FC Shakhtar and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have extended the cooperation agreement they signed back in 2017 to promote and encourage a healthy lifestyle among families, children, teenagers and young people.

During this period, Shakhtar and the UNFPA have implemented the 4 Hands Happiness responsible paternity campaign involving the Shakhtar senior team players. The initiative aims to challenge and change established societal stereotypes in Ukraine with regards to the traditional distribution of family responsibilities and to promote the sharing of household work and childcare.  They have also formed a football team of girls aged 6 to 7 who conduct regular training sessions in Kharkiv.

After finding success from their combining efforts to achieve steady progress in such areas as gender equality, promoting the involvement of girls in sports, responsible fatherhood and combating gender stereotypes in society, the parties have agreed to extend the agreement.

FC Shakhtar CEO, Sergei Palkin confirmed:

“We are content with our cooperation with UNFPA. We have jointly fulfilled two campaigns by now: the 4 Hands Happiness and the formation of a girls’ football team in Kharkiv. We continue working on each of these projects these days. We plan to make further efforts to draw the attention of young people to sports, family values, the issues of responsible fatherhood, gender equality and the development of a tolerant society.”

Caspar Peek, from the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine followed up by stating:

“We are grateful to our partners for implementing the unique initiative, in which the football club sets real value for people. This is a very important step to promote a stereotype-free environment, to broaden women’s rights and opportunities in Ukraine. This initiative is much deeper than just involving girls in the sport. It is about fulfilling their potential, the roles and the ability to be what they want to be.”