Commonwealth Secretariat
I was honoured to be invited to join the Commonwealth Secretariat on Monday for the official landmark launch of the 2023 ‘Year of Youth’ – a seminal 12 months devoted to the celebration and empowerment of the 1.5 billion under-30s living in and across the Commonwealth.
Attended by Ministers including Hon. Rosemary Mbabazi, Minister of Youth, Rwanda, Hon. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, Pakistan, Hon. Sarah Mateke Nyirabashitsi, Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs, Uganda, and Hon. Shamfa Cudjoe, Minister of Sports and Community Development, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as representatives from the Commonwealth Youth Council, Commonwealth Games Federation, and the Royal Commonwealth Society – the official launch of the ‘Year of Youth’ described how Commonwealth Heads of Government have committed to prioritise collaborative action in support and celebration of young people worldwide.
Speaking at the in-person launch at Marlborough House, London, the Commonwealth-Secretary General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, said:
It is my absolute pleasure as Secretary-General to be here launching the Commonwealth Year of Youth and I am excited that the next 12 months will bring Commonwealth leaders, stakeholders and citizens together to celebrate and empower our 1.5 billion young people.
In the lead up to Christmas last year, together with my brilliant CMO, Kevin Tewis-Allen, we tabled a formal proposal to the Commonwealth office to outline our intended youth-focused project initiative that would see our charity Foundation oversee, manage and deliver key youth-focused events and activities to take place throughout 2023 – under the banner of how we and our partners use ‘FOOTBALL FOR GOOD’.
Young people are at the heart of the Street Soccer Foundation – as we know they are at the heart of the Commonwealth Charter.
At the beginning of the year, I was thrilled to learn that the Commonwealth Secretariat accepted and formally endorsed our ‘FOOTBALL FOR GOOD’ project proposal – and alongside another key partner organisation, Catalyst in Communities, the Street Soccer Foundation was appointed as a new Partner of the Commonwealth to drive the Football For Good agenda throughout 2023, in support of the ‘Year of Youth’.
At the official launch on Monday, it was made clear the collective commitment was being offered to investing in and promoting young people and their development and engagement at community, regional, national, and pan-Commonwealth levels throughout this year and beyond.
The Street Soccer Academy programme in the ‘Year of Youth’
The incredible privilege we now have as a UK-based national charity is to deliver on our promise of a ‘Football For Good’ project initiative that will initially spotlight our nationally acclaimed Street Soccer Academy programme, as well as new-planned exciting football-led activations to be announced over the coming weeks: all that will directly link into the Commonwealth international network to help educate, inspire and empower over 1 billion young people globally across 56 countries worldwide.
Our Academy programme this year will be back up and running across England on or before Commonwealth Day (13th March) and is nationally recognised for its positive social impact, focusing on youth development, education, health and wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion, and youth empowerment.
I am delighted that we will see several professional football clubs right across the professional pyramid, from the Premier League through to League 2, all partner with us through their community teams to deliver the Street Soccer Academy programme over the coming weeks.
Supported by the Commonwealth, 2023 now provides a wonderful opportunity for us together with football-led charities and community organisations nationwide, as well as with our valued supporters and sponsors, to shine a light on the brilliant youth development work happening all over the country and for us all to celebrate youth achievement, on their commitment to improving and developing themselves through our Academy programme.
The fact that our Academy programme and the manner of its delivery will now be recognised across 56 different countries worldwide is genuinely humbling – and it provides the most brilliant opportunity for us to showcase a collective building and developing of young people – engaging, inspiring, and empowering young people to make a positive difference in their lives and to champion peace and unity through the beautiful game.
The ‘Football for Good’ Champions Trophy at St Georges Park
The Academy provision will run through to the early part of the Summer – when we will then look to invite representative teams from across the country – those young people who have successfully completed the Street Soccer Academy programme – to the Home of England Football, St Georges Park – to play in a 1-day tournament, as a momentous mark of celebration of their success and achievement on completing our personal development course.
This centrepiece youth event will be an integral part of our FOOTBALL FOR GOOD project plans in 2023 as well as link in with our major ‘Football for Good Day’ event to be delivered towards the end of the year, which will represent a one-day global celebration in 2023 of youth and unified action throughout the Commonwealth – showcased through football-led activations worldwide. Full details will be released in due course.
FOOTBALL FOR GOOD
In short, our ‘FOOTBALL FOR GOOD’ project initiative in 2023 intends to be a global amplification of football-led programmes and activities that offers with it a means of unified action and celebration of youth development and empowerment across the Commonwealth – delivered through the power of the global No.1 sport.
In plain terms, with this new and valued partnership with the Commonwealth, our development programmes, events and planned activities will mean that from this year, the Street Soccer Foundation will be formally linked into 56 countries across the world and gain an audience of more than 1 billion young people globally.
This in itself, is a true honour and a privilege and such that I would ask every individual who sees this and learns of our new FOOTBALL FOR GOOD global initiative and related projects – to please in any way you can, get involved.
Let’s together all become GAME CHANGERS…. Together, Changing Lives through Football.
