Homeless World Cup: Beating homelessness through football
There are over 1 billion homeless people in the world today and this number is increasing. The Homeless World Cup has a vision for a world where everyone has a home, a basic human need.The Homeless World cup uses football to energise homeless people to change their lives. An international tournament is held annually which acts as a catalyst, driving homeless people to get involved to represent their country. Once involved, players participate in programmes to address issues which challenge them – housing, employment, or drug/alcohol issues. In the meantime Homeless World Cup has been working with 200,000 homeless people and their annual research shows that 70% of the homeless people who participate in the annual event change their lives significantly.
Impact
Approximately 200,000 homeless people have been involved in our National Partner programmes to date.
A total of 64 national teams participated in the Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup with new countries playing for the first time like Indonesia.
Our annual research shows that 70% of the homeless people who participate in our annual event change their lives significantly. This means they come off drugs or alcohol, get into training or education, try to connect with their families or friends again, and even find a job or a new home.
The next Homeless World Cup annual tournament will take place in Mexico City next October and will see 72 teams (a record!) including new countries such as Pakistan, Bulgaria or Vietnam.
Beneficiaries
- 73 National Partner organisations worldwide.
- 200,000 Homeless participants around the world.
- Age range of particpants is between 14-65+ but the average age is early 20s (with some partner organisations working with street children throughout the year). Gender breakdown is approximately 80% male, 20% female.
- Homeless World Cup host nations, host cities, organising committee staff and partners.
- Beneficiary cities to date include: Graz, Gothenburg, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Melbourne, Milan, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and Mexico City.
- National Governing Bodies of football worldwide.
- Numerous Homeless World Cup global sponsors, partners, suppliers including Nike, UEFA, and Telmex.
- Homeless World Cup staff, international volunteers, coaches and officials.
Sustainability
The Homeless World Cup Foundation was created to deliver lasting benefits in the area of homelessness.
The annual tournament is the celebration of all the hard work we and our partners around the world do, on a daily basis. It throws light onto the issue of Homelessness and the national programmes, their work and impact as well as the power of football.
During the other 51 months of the year, we bring support and help to all these programmes in many different fields: coaching and training but also communication or administration skills. We want these programmes to be sustainable and independent and that is why we help them in creating their own social enterprise sometimes, like in Uganda, where the girls taking part in the Girls Kick It programme also work on a poultry farm project.
More info about this here: http://www.homelessworldcup.org/news/uganda-girls-kick-it
Innovation
The Homeless World Cup Foundation is unique and tackles an issue that is global: Homelessness. There is no comparable orgnaisation that uses sport to tackle homelessness on the same scale and business model.
Scalability
The concept of the Homeless World Cup was derived with simplicity in mind. The projects and programmes were designed to fulfil ambitious targets and as a result they are very easily replicated. The rate of growth from its establishment in 2003 evidences its simplicity and the sheer potential for the Homeless World Cup to expand further.
Source of funding
The Homeless World Cup Foundation recognises that its annual global tournament requires strong financial supporters. As such, the organization targets one primary Host Partner per tournament along with a select number of marquee partners, who can leverage their financial resources and network to bring greater resources and attention to the event.
All year-round, the organization needs funding to be able to carry its work throughout the world. This is done through a series of events but also through donating and fundraising campaigns.
The Kinetic 5s Corporate Tournaments is one of the Homeless World Cup Foundation’s lead products. This community-oriented event will attract top regional corporate sponsors who want to integrate their objectives with communities where they work and live.
We also rely on individuals and schools to fundraise and support the work we carry on. Schools can use resources and material available online and introduce the Homeless World Cup in their classrooms, They can also organise fundraising football tournament or other activities to support our network of partners.
Individuals can fundraise all year long through events or personal challenges. Moreover, they can fundraise to take part in our International Volunteering Programme and attend our annual tournament.