League of Tolerance: Helping To Integrate Ukrainian Refugees in Sweden

April 6, 2023 

In celebration of today’s International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), we are honored to introduce our inaugural Sport Together Fund delivered by Beyond Sport beneficiaries. With an initial focus on promoting “Leadership Together,” the seven recipients are providing sports-based leadership training opportunities for refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable communities that promote well-being and inclusivity.

  

Founded in Ukraine, the League of Tolerance (LOT) / Ліга Толерантності is an alliance of sport coaches, human rights defenders, artists, trainers and youth workers who use the playground to promote inclusive and accessible human rights education through sport. Working with vulnerable young people, LOT creates respectful intercultural dialogue within communities and outlines practical steps to build “a capacity for tolerance” through play, democratic participation and entrepreneurship. 

Ukraine’s population has long been multi-ethnic, multi-language and multi-cultural. Therefore, the charity made it a priority to ‘unite through diversity’ and include lesser-served people: those with disabilities, ethnic minorities, the LGBTQI+ community, people from disadvantaged neighborhoods and people suffering from armed conflict. “On the playground, we are all the same. If the government excludes people, we are there for them,” said CEO, UEFA C licensed Football Coach and human rights lawyer Oleksandr (Sasha) Fomichov at the time. Fomichov has a very personal understanding as he is an ethnic minority who was internally displaced from Donetsk to Ivano-Frankivsk in 2014 due to conflict.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, LOT staff, volunteers and its 2000 original participants were dispersed all over Europe. At the start of the war, the team worked nearly 24 hours a day to help support families with transportation, hot meals, diapers, medicine, warm clothes and physical support during border crossings. They also provided legal and psychosocial support to the families afterward, ultimately helping hundreds of families to relocate safely. 
 
Refugees in Sweden 

Displaced to Sweden, and now a refugee for the second time, Fomichov has brought LOT’s work to his new country where there are nearly 50,000 fellow Ukrainian refugees. This is in addition to the existing 240,000+ refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from Syria, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Leveraging the freestyle street football discipline, PANNA, LOT’s project team piloted the Panna Football for Positive Changes (PFPC project) in Östhammar town in 2022. Through the fast, three-minute game where you kick the ball through an opponent’s legs to win (Panna), the team worked to develop coordination, creativity and confidence in its young players. LOT chose the location because of its existing public outdoor playground, available starting equipment, easy access to the game for players and the willingness of the local project team to use innovative sport approaches to help integrate refugees (87 Ukrainians settled there last August).

Free for participants, the project team adapted the classic rules of Panna to be more inclusive and gender equal, played one on one or two on two. Everything is based on fostering mutual respect amongst players, allowing for unique individual styles, building physical and tactical literacy and showing how to make a positive impact through teamwork and decision-making. Kids also have chances to socialize through art therapy and cultural excursions.

After a successful first run, LOT expanded the project to encompass the whole community, including children with disabilities, other refugees and migrants, disadvantaged families and grassroots educators and coaches. PFPC’s project goals are to: (1) Increase the time children can have healthy fun, allowing them to be mentally free of their traumas for periods of time; (2) enhance their athletic development; (3) create a friendly space for kids to socialize, express themselves and engage with other children from diverse backgrounds and genders; and (4) increase the coaching and youth education competencies of parents and volunteers.

"I'm really happy that my daughter has an opportunity to play football in our new home as she really suffered in leaving Ukraine. As parents, we are glad that children from Sweden and Ukraine can communicate in a friendly and healthy environment, created by a diverse team of coaches and assistants who also represent refugees and the hosting community. They work well with children and constantly refine their approach based on our feedback, which is wonderful for us,” said a parent of one of the participants.

“I like that the universal language of football has become a bridge for my daughter to freely speak with her Swedish peers. Participating in the Beyond Sport supported program will help the coaches and other parent volunteers gain the knowledge and skills to be even more inclusive and sustainable in their work which helps with our physical and mental well-being during such a difficult time for Ukraine." 

LOT will use its Sports Together Fund grant to train staff and volunteers to further develop the project and better involve refugee families in its delivery. Funds will be used to run eight expert-led training events covering football coaching, the inclusion of people with disabilities and skills for working with refugee communities. To facilitate social integration, attendees will be a mixture of Ukrainian refugees and local community members. Ultimately, LOT would like to hold three training practices and one tournament every month, one community festival every three months and run one exchange trip within Sweden or abroad to engage with other Panna players every four to six months. 

Beyond Sport launched the Sport Together Fund in 2022 to provide grants and capacity-building support to non-profit organizations, sports clubs and collectives who are assisting communities facing conflict, displacement, human rights violations and climate change disasters through sport. The Fund also supports the transit and host communities where people are rebuilding their lives. 

Learn more about all our Sport Together Fund Grantee Partners HERE.