The Mayor of the National District Carolina Mejía and FC Barcelona soccer player Javier Saviola toured El Túnel de Capotillo, a crime-ridden city slum area, to learn more about the Save the Children and the FC Barcelona Foundation sports program that seeks to make a difference in the lives of impoverished children, as reported in Segundos. The program has the financial support of Scotiabank and other companies.
Boys and girls in Capotillo participated in the project “Playing for Inclusion” and shared and played for several days with the former footballer and legend Javier Saviola who, besides being a soccer star, has a strong commitment as a defender and promoter of the rights of children around the world.
The project “Education and Protection through Sports: Playing for Inclusion” aims to strengthen social cohesion and inclusion through sports, impacting the lives of more than 1,600 children, adolescents and young people in vulnerable situations. It seeks to impact basic education and protection through sport with the SportNet methodology of the Fundacion FCB. The project is being implemented in the El Tunel school and 42 impoverished sector with the support of Save the Children and Scotia Bank and the FC Barcelona Foundation.
Mayor Carolina Mejía went to see the program for herself and how it benefits children in third grade at El Túnel school. She was accompanied by Saviola and by Juan Tomás Díaz, president of Save the Children; Marta Segú, director of the Barcelona Club soccer foundation; and Liz Mieses, president of the Council of Councillors.
The Ministry of Sports is contributing the construction of a soccer field next to the school.
The program seeks to promote the creation of safe, healthy and inclusive environments for children and adolescents in vulnerable situations, prioritizing education and protection through sports and physical activity as key mechanisms for development, integration, equality and diversity.
This initiative includes environmental sanitation to improve the conditions of the environments where children live and play with green brigades made up by the children themselves.
It also promotes the values of tolerance, gender equality and respect, integrating the community, families, authorities and private entities, as well as children from other sectors and social strata, fostering awareness, social mobilization and cooperation among actors in favor of children in vulnerable situations.
Javier Saviola was U-20 world champion with the Argentine national team, gold medalist in Athens in 2004, a member of the Argentine national team in 2006, Europa League champion with Sevilla in 2005, Portuguese league champion with Benfica, and Argentine league champion on two occasions.
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5 June 2023