Al Thawadi: Football has the power to bring people together

Hassan Al Thawadi, the secretary-general of the 2022 FIFA World Cup's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, has underlined football’s potential to bring people together and promote social integration, good health, leadership, discipline and teamwork, It is an important tool for engaging and inspiring young people, supporting development efforts and spreading peace in societies, he said.

Al Thawadi spoke of the importance of providing full support to crisis-affected communities around the world, saying: "Empowering and educating young people who are disadvantaged, marginalised and most at risk of exclusion or violence, as well as refugees and displaced communities, is a key part of the path to positive change, and this is one of the most important goals we’re looking to achieve through this programme, working with our partners at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies."

Al Thawadi's words came as part of the announcement that Generation Amazing, the Supreme Committee’s humanitarian and social legacy programme, is launching an initiative aimed at empowering young people and strengthening their life skills, as part of its football-for-development programme, in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

One of the programme’s aims is to consolidate social inclusion and enhance youth empowerment opportunities in marginalised communities in Iraq, Myanmar, Uganda and Argentina, and strengthen their role in bringing about positive change and advancing development efforts in their countries.

The 12-week initiative will focus on developing the capacities of young people in the four countries, enhancing learning opportunities and helping them to gain basic life skills.

The programme will be carried out by a group of experienced instructors who have undergone training in the football-for-development initiative’s unique methodology, with the young people benefiting from materials and methodologies linked to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ ‘Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change’ initiative.

A partnership agreement between Generation Amazing and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was signed last year, with the aim of providing activities within the football-for-development programme for disadvantaged and marginalised youths in several countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America.