2022 OUTSTANDING SPORTS FOR PEACE

Formed in 1994, the F.C. Barcelona Foundation is a pioneering and leading agency both within Spain and also worldwide in its strong advocacy of the power of sport to promote social inclusion, justice, development and peace. The work and methodology of the Foundation is guided by a set of values intended to define the ethos of the club and its members. The five values are humility, effort, ambition, respect and teamwork. Players, supporters and all people connected with the club are expected to follow these values. With this value-led approach, the Foundation has worked for over 26 years using sport for social transformation and change, and to enhance the development and well-being of the most vulnerable children and young people. Under its new Director, Marta Segú, the Foundation is exploring new and innovative approaches to conflict resolution, prevention of violence and peacebuilding.

Demonstrating the international and humanitarian ethos of the club and Foundation, in 2006 the President of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, signed an innovative global partnership with the United Nations Agency for Children, UNICEF, and was committed to wear the UNICEF logo on the first team jersey. In addition, FC Barcelona Foundation donates 1,5 million euros per season to UNICEF projects aiming to improve the life of children. In 2009 the Foundation and the Club formed an agreement with UNESCO and with the Open University of Catalonia to create a UNESCO University Chair in Sport and Peacebuilding. One major outcome of this initiative was a full Master’s Degree in Sport, Social Inclusion and Conflict Resolution. After this 16 years of a successful global partnership with UNICEF, there is the improvement of thousands of children lives around the world.

The Foundation works in contexts in which youth violence has become a structural phenomenon. The methodologies developed by the organization help the participants to gain personal and social skills for resolving conflicts peacefully, which encourages social reintegration, and promotes dialogue and reflection on and off the field to resolve conflicts and drive communities away from violence. The programmes against violence teach dialogue and conflict resolution skills and attempt to educate children and young people via the promotion of positive values and peaceful behaviour. The social inclusion and peacebuilding programme using the FC Barcelona methodologies especially serves to highlight the essence of the Foundation’s approach as paradigmatic in its use of sport to link the values of tolerance and inclusion in pursuit of development and peacebuilding goals.  https://foundation.fcbarcelona.com/home