Mini-van football adventure in Novi Pazar and Vranje

World Cup is over, but football adventures in Atina have just started. One of them is a football mini-van tour that took place in Novi Pazar and Vranje in September 2018. Fairplay initiative from Vienna brought a mobile mini football field, mini football, as well as a DJ set for workshops. The purpose of this visit was to talk to girls and boys from Novi Pazar about gender equality, tolerance, non-discrimination, and create the opportunity for equal participation of all the members of society while playing football.  

More than 70 children enjoyed football, played music with DJ set, and also talked about human rights. One of the girls shared the following with us “I don’t get to play football with boys that often. I always think they will beat me, because they are stronger, however, today I see that is not the case!” The importance od supporting girls in seeing themselves as equal members of society who can do anything was recognized not only by this girl, but also by the community itself that actively participated in the event organization through the Youth Office.

The city of Vranje had the chance to host the mini-van tour in the Reception Center for Refugees and Migrants. This was a perfect opportunity not only to talk about human rights through football, but also to decrease social distance existing between local citizens and refugees. Through football and music girls and boys from both refugee and local community, got to get to know each other, make friends, and perhaps even continue playing football together after this workshop.  

Mini-van tour is a part of the project “Football Together” that is coordinated by the initiative Fairplay of  NGO Vienna Institute for Development and Cooperation (VIDC) in cooperation with key partner BAAP, and in collaboration with Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. The project is co-financed by UEFA program HatTrick and Austrian Development Agency (ADA). “Football Together” is focused on promoting equality and non-discrimination through football, and the main goal is empowering vulnerable groups, as well as enhancing equal participation of women and girls in football. The project will be implemented by the end of 2020 with many more adventures we are eagerly anticipating.