World Parks, World Cup

More about World Parks, World Cup

Each coach has a specific social issue which they want to tackle; gender equality, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse for example and each uses footballs to tackle these important social issues.
The long-term and overriding social issue for our project is to reconnect our participants, and communities, from across the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, with the environment and, to ultimately reduce poaching of high-value animals and for the 'pot'.
Friends of Mutale, through its World Parks, World Cup project uses football as a means to do this by engaging our primary school participants, to create a safe space where they can play and learn. A place where we can teach them about the value of the various flora and fauna of the National Parks which surround them but are separated from.
Conservation models have traditionally been to put up a fence to keep people out. We want to change this and using football is a great way to do this, as every village, every school has a football pitch of sorts. We can engage directly with the children and inspire them to protect their environment by giving them the tools and confidence to do so through sport.