FOR its efforts to promote positive and sustainable change through the sport of football, the corporate social responsibility initiative started by international foundation Football for Humanity Foundation (FFH) and the Football Council of Naga (FCN), dubbed “Transformations through Football,” was feted at the last Philippine Quill Awards.
A program that brings various stakeholders together with the end view of changing the lives of individuals and their community, particularly in Naga City in the Bicol Region, the FFH and FCN initiative in just over a year has made significant strides as far as its vision goes.
The strategy has seen the FCN develop a training program, with help from the FFH, giving participants the faculties to lead better lives while also enhancing the city’s football education and furthering the development of grassroots football in the area.
The result has been overwhelmingly good, the organizations said, with Naga City seeing a resurgence in football as well as more people recognizing the sport as a way of living “champion” lives.
“It’s a truly significant day for our teams, who had to overcome so many barriers to make this program successful in Naga City, where we have access to the 50,000 schoolchildren in 37 public schools. Our experience proves that you don’t need multimillion budgets to popularize and implement football such that it truly delivers a ‘change’ in society,” Chris Thomas, volunteer football development officer of the FCN and FFH founder, shared to BusinessWorld in an e-mail following their winning a Quill award from the International Association of Business Communicators in ceremonies held last month.
“This was truly a joint effort of the major pillars of society, where the local government unit, the Department of Education, and private athletic groups communicated very efficiently to implement and sustain a practical football program that promoted well-being, positive values, and most of all hope, for the children of Naga City,” Mr. Thomas added.
The FFH founder went on to say the award only served to inspire them some more to continue what they have started and that they have lined up more programs in line with their cause, including accepting international volunteers, like qualified football educators and coaches, who will enhance and fast-track the implementation of European-standard training programs starting this year. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
