In March 2019, with support from UEFA Foundation for children, we launched a pilot outreach project empowering coaches in rural areas to provide access to sport and learning to disadvantaged children in Cambodia.

Project Highlights

• 480 outreach sessions will focus on relevant social issues in Cambodia
• Approximately 500 Cambodian children will directly benefit from social impact football lessons
• Another 3000 children expected to indirectly benefit through proximity learning and peer influence
• 20 coaches from poor rural areas will receive ongoing support from ISF

Social Impact Through Sport

Lessons on inclusion, personal health, and gender equality are discussed

In Phnom Penh, Prey Veng and Siem Reap provinces, 200 coaches and aspiring coaches from schools, community organisations and NGOs around the country participated in an intensive five-day training module. Participants learned how to deliver social impact football lessons using methods developed by Coaches Across Continents (CAC). CAC is a global leader in the field of sport for social impact training. ISF has been using the curriculum for six years, and now we’re training rural Cambodian coaches in these methods.

The methodology uses games and activities that engage children in social issues relevant to Cambodia. Our goal is to develop children’s athletic, confidence, teamwork and decision-making skills in a fun and safe environment. We cover topics such as gender equality, disability and social inclusion, substance abuse, gambling, education and health.

Also, we selected 20 coaches from poor rural areas that lack sports infrastructure and expertise to receive ongoing support from ISF. Our aid enables them to deliver regular coaching to local girls and boys aged 11-14. Each coach will look after a group of approximately 25 disadvantaged children. ISF’s highly trained coaching staff will continue to advise them throughout the year.

We expect ISF-supported coaches to run 480 outreach sessions, reaching approximately 500 children. Beside the 500 direct beneficiaries of this project, we expect there will be up to 3,000 indirect ones.

Coaching with Girls in Mind

The project is also sensitive to the needs of girls in rural areas where enrollment in school is low. There are various reasons for this, connected to perceptions of gender roles. A girl’s future role is seen to be that of a wife and mother, not a part of the workforce. Thus parents may not choose to invest in their daughter’s education. This is particularly true when economic resources are scarce. They are often withdrawn from school around the age of puberty, while boys remain longer.

“Before joining ISF, I thought that girls could play football but never said so openly. Now I see that girls play really well.”
– Vorn Savy, Anlong Mean Primary School Principal

Like Vorn Savy, many in Cambodia have a negative view of girls’ capacity to play sports. Social impact training helped this primary school principal advocate for girls right to play (read his story here). Throughout our project, we promote girls’ inclusion in sport which contributes to a shift in attitudes on the role of women in sports and in society. Of the 500 players, 40% are girls and we have five female coaches who act as positive role models for those players.

Vorn Savy joins 200 other coaches who graduated ISF Social Impact training

Project Goals

The aim of this project is to create a scalable football for change outreach model for use in rural Cambodian provinces. The objectives of our project are to:

1. Provide children, including girls, with access to sport and play.
2. Improve children’s health and well-being
3. Provide a safe space for children to explore relevant social issues.
4. Develop children’s confidence, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving and resilience
5. Empower girls and women and change local perceptions through sport:
6. Promote and encourage young people, especially girls, to remain in school.

Discussing the importance of education is part of our social impact curriculum. While participating in our project, we encourage youth to stay in school. We found that 99% of our players consider education important and would like to finish secondary school. Furthermore, 95% say they go to school on a regular basis and would like to continue their education after secondary school.

UEFA Foundation for children aims to help children and safeguard their rights using sport, especially football as a medium to drive social change. The foundation promotes projects that foster children’s empowerment, especially those safeguarding their fundamental rights. UEFA Foundation has been supporting ISF since last year in crafting this social impact project.