Sport Together – Strengthening Cross-Community Social Inclusion in Post-Conflict Regions

The overall objective of the “Sport Together” project is to strengthen social inclusion in divided communities with a focus on young people and girls and to increase participation of disadvantaged groups - in particular refugees & newly-arrived migrants and minorities - in grass-roots sport through training, education, awareness-raising, capacity-building of sport stakeholders and cross-community youth sport interventions.

The project will use sport to tackle cross-border threats to social cohesion. First, the ongoing ethno-political divisions in the Western Balkan & Ireland. Second, the continued challenges following the so called EU “refugee crisis”.

Main events include a kick-off meeting in Belfast, a European Training Session for Multipliers in Belgrade in autumn 2021 followed by National Workshops in all seven partner countries, a Girls Football Festival in July 2022 in Vienna, inclusive grassroots events in the European Week of Sport 2022, a Networking Meeting in Sarajevo and a final cross-border Mini-Van Tour in 3 countries.  

Duration: 1 Jan 2021 – 30 June 2023

Partnership

Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) / fairplay Initiative (Austria)
Football Association of Ireland (FAI) (Ireland)
Irish Football Association (IFA) (Northern Ireland / UK)
Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Atina – Citizens’ Association for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and all Forms of Gender-Based Violence (Serbia)
University of Thessaly (UTH) (Greece)
Donegal Sports Partnership (DSP) (Ireland)
Nogometni klub "Zagreb 041" (Croatia)

Modules

1. Building an Evidence Base & Identifying Good Practice
1.1. Baseline Study Report (Jan21-Mar22)
1.2. Good Practice Guide (Sep21-Jul22)

2. Educational Resources & Dissemination  
2.1 Education Manual – Methods, Activities and Games for Youth Workshops (Jul21-Jul22)
2.2. Youth Online Toolkit (Sep21-Jun23)

3. Sport Inclusion Training & Education  
3.1. European Training Session for Multipliers (Sep21)
3.2. National Workshops - Implementation on the ground (Nov21-Jun22)
3.3. Girls Football Festival / Girl Power Video (Jul22)

4. Awareness, Campaigning & Networking  
4.1. European Week of Sport – Inclusive Grassroots Events (Sep22)
4.2. Handbook on Cross-Community Youth Sport Events (Jul22-Jun23)
4.3 Sport Together Networking Meeting (Feb23)
4.4 Mini Van Tour (May23)