ISF Wins the AFC 2019 Best Grassroots Football Project Award
ISF Wins the AFC 2019 Best Grassroots Football Project Award
We are delighted to accept the 2019 Best Grassroots Football Project award. In Kuala Lumpur, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) honoured advocates of grassroots football at the AFC Special Grassroots and Elite Women’s Youth Football Awards 2019.
Vicheka Chourp, ISF Country Manager, accepted the award. In her acceptance speech, she said: “Football can empower communities regardless of their abilities. Our projects target different groups and we can use the sport as a tool for character building and to instill lifelong values. We are honoured to receive this award as it is a result of all the hard work which we have put in.”
The Best Grassroots Football Project Award underscores our efforts to use the sport as a tool for social impact
ISF received the 2019 Best Grassroots Project award for our efforts to spread the positive aspects of football. Through various projects, the ISF Football Programme has reached 3,500 children and youth of all abilities. They include hearing, blind and visually impaired players, wheelchair bound and HIV positive players. ISF coaches also use training sessions as opportunities to speak to relevant local issues. Using a Social Impact curriculum developed in partnership with Coaches Across Continents (CAC), we discuss issues such as gender equality, substance abuse, and non-violent conflict resolution.
“Football can empower communities regardless of their abilities. Our projects target different groups and we can use the sport as a tool for character building and to instill lifelong values.”
Vicheka Chourp, ISF Country Manager
Spreading Social Impact Through Football
A goal of the Football Programme is to create an ever-expanding web of progress, where coaches that we train, influence other coaches. Thereby spreading our message of inclusion and healthy life choices. One example of these efforts is a coach instruction project in cooperation with UEFA Foundation that produced 20 new ISF-supported social impact coaches. 500 children are benefiting directly from this project with 3000 expected to indirectly benefit through proximity learning and peer influence.
Celebrating Women and Girls in Sport
As a strong advocate of promoting girls right to play, ISF is overjoyed that the Grassroots Football Projects awards ceremony also highlighted women’s contributions to the game. 33% of ISF’s core coaching team are women. They act as positive role models to the girls in our programme. Also, of the 500 children who are participating in our UEFA project, 40% are girls. Going forward, we plan to add four more coaches yearly though this project. They will work with girls and boys in poor rural provinces across Cambodia who would not otherwise have access to competitive sport.
