28th July 2018
The World Cup is an exciting time, whereby whole nations get involved with following the sport of football. However, football is not only a sports game, but also a universal language – one in which the whole world can participate. This fact is something that has been recognised by one of our collective funds at Prism. Aniko use football as a tool for fostering communication and promoting peace in communities affected by the refugee crisis. With all the excitement surrounding football in the World Cup, we thought we would give you an insight into some of the programmes Aniko have been running whilst being at Prism the Gift Fund:
Aniko FC
Aniko FC was the first project run by Aniko. Each week Aniko would meet with a small number of players to run a training session in Thessaloniki, Greece. The sessions, which have in the past ran in partnership with Terre des Hommes and the Norwegian Refugee Council, aim at fostering communication between participants to help create a more positive environment for people who have previously been in desperate situations or still are. The long term hope is that refugees who come to play for Aniko FC, are not only able to build up their confidence and integrate into communities, but they are also able to make it to club level football.
Football for all
Once a month Aniko host a ‘football for all’ community day in Thessaloniki, Greece. Football for all is designed to be accessible to the wider community. The aim of this is not only to offer refugees and local community members the chance to participate in playing football, through a series of friendly matches, but also to increase integration between refugees and the communities they come to live in. Whilst, the primary aim of ‘football for all’ is to foster integration and communication between members of a community, it is also used as an important outreach tool for partnering organisations, and has enabled them to reach vulnerable people, who lack access to vital services.
So far Aniko have been extremely successful in their endeavours to promote social inclusion and have helped over 700 people from 28 different countries through their football activities in Greece.
