UNODC and Qatar government present projects on sports and youth in Rio.

 

Rio de Janeiro, 17 June 2019 - The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC)'s Generation Amazing programme and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have teamed up with Flamengo Football Club to deliver a joint Football for Development session to youth from some of the most impoverished communities in Rio de Janeiro, on the sidelines of Qatar's participation at Copa America in Brazil. The event marked a major milestone for Generation Amazing and UNODC in their efforts to promote youth empowerment, inclusion and resilience through sports across the world.

Young girls and boys from Campo Grande, Favela do Vidigal and Cidade de Deus, benefited by UNODC's Line Up, Live Up methodology since 2017, were inspired in the session by former Qatar National Team coach and Flamengo Football Club legend Evaristo de Macedo, Copa America coaching legend Bora Milutinovic, alongside Flamengo youth team players, club officials and other club celebrities.

SC Secretary General H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi said: "Generation Amazing and the UNODC are natural partners as both entities seek to positively affect children's lives in areas of the world most in need of assistance. Generation Amazing seeks to effect that improvement in lives through the power of football and today's event is a wonderful showcase of that immense power in action.  We sincerely appreciate the involvement of Flamengo, Evaristo, and Bora Milutinovic for bringing the event to life and assisting in providing the children in attendance with a day to remember."

The event marked a major milestone for Generation Amazing, currently present in seven countries in the Middle East and Asia (Qatar, Nepal, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, the Philippines and India). "We are proud to announce at this significant activation with UNODC that Generation Amazing has now reached half a million beneficiaries, including direct and indirect beneficiaries, together with strategic partner organizations. Reaching 500,000 youth is a major step on our journey to empower and educate the next generations through the inspirational impact of football," said Mushtaq Al Waeli, Senior Advisor to the SC Secretary General and Executive Director of Generation Amazing.

Marco Teixeira, Senior Programme Officer of UNODC's Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration , congratulated Generation Amazing on the scope of its outreach, noting that the use of sports as a prevention tool was an important part of the Global Programme, supported by the State of Qatar. He noted: "Youth are placed at the center of Doha Programme's activities that aim to promote a culture of lawfulness, and to empower young boys and girls to become socially responsible citizens by helping them build life skills to better cope with daily life challenges and move away from involvement in violence, crime or drug use. In this effort, sport has been an important ally, offering a unique vehicle for non-formal education, skill development and the social integration of young people".

UNODC's Line Up, Live Up (LULU) initiative on sport for prevention is currently implemented in ten countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, impacting sport actors, coaches and trainers and helping them build their capacity to use sport and sport-based programmes as a tool for youth violence and crime prevention. Brazil was invited to be the first country to test and implement the Line Up, Line Up's training sessions, in a partnership with the Secretariats of Sports and Leisure of the Government of Brasilia and of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Since then, 114 sports coaches and teachers have been trained and are implementing its methodology in 48 sports settings in vulnerable communities.

Furthermore as part of its global efforts to promote sports in preventing youth crime, UNODC offers support, through grants, to local initiatives undertaken by select non-governmental organizations , including in Brazil.  

The activation contributed to the objective of Generation Amazing to positively impact one million lives through Football for Development outreach and education by 2022. Generation Amazing has already reached over 28 communities which have been positively impacted by the Football for Development programme, and the construction or refurbishment of community pitches.

Generation Amazing is the human and social legacy programme initiated during Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in 2010, which uses the power of sport to positively impact lives and create sustainable social development in communities.

UNODC's Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration promotes a culture of lawfulness around the world through Education for Justice, Judicial Integrity, and Prisoner Rehabilitation in addition to Youth Crime Prevention through Sport.

Note to editors:

For media inquiries about Generation Amazing, please contact Matthias Krug: m.krug@sc.qa

For media inquiries about UNODC, please contact Kevin Town, UNODC Public Information Officer: kevin.town@un.org

For social media purposes, please use the hashtags/handles #GenerationAmazing & @Roadto2022 (for Generation Amazing); and ChooseSport & @UNODC/@DohaDeclaration (for UNODC).

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This article is related to the Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

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