ICSS join hands with partners to support young refugees in Europe

DOHA: International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) EUROPE – a non-profit entity established under the umbrella of the Doha-based International Centre for Sport Security, has joined hands with the International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC), Spanish Fundacion Sevilla Futbol Club, and Italy’s Fondazione Lazio 1900 in a collaborative partnership under the EU ERASMUS+ sport program to launch Crossing the Boundaries through Sport (CrosSport) project.

The project aims to tackle the challenges posed by refugee flows affecting Europe at large.

ICSS EUROPE will coordinate its first-ever EU project within the framework of Save the Dream initiative established by the ICSS with the support of Ooredoo as Technology Partner, becoming a global movement that aims to promote and protect the values and integrity of sport.

The official launch took place during a project kick-off session held during the European Week of Sport in Lisbon, hosted by the National Olympic Committee of Portugal.

The project kick-off session brought together project partners along with relevant international and national institutions such as the International Organization for Migration and the Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth, and a “refugees-led sharing talk”, which gathers four testimonies representing the refugee’s communities identified by project partners.

The project comes in response to today’s current and dramatic events stressing, more than ever, the need to adopt innovative measures and CrosSport’s pioneering approach aimed at exploring new avenues for reception, inclusion and integration of refugees in our societies by using the power of sport.

The project’s main deliverables during the 24 months’ implementation of CrosSport are:

• Reference framework and networking through focus groups where experts will discuss and share knowledge and best practices on how to use sport as a tool of inclusion.
• Methodology Handbook on how to achieve a strengthened cooperation between sport organizations and integration-focused social development organizations and to increase community participation of youth refugees through the attractiveness of sport activities.
• Educational programmes for the creation of two figures: a “Community Leader for Inclusion through Sport (CLIS)”, and “Sport for Inclusion Activist (SIA)” within the refugee community.

“When we presented our project proposal to the European Union, the world, Europe in particular, was looking very different.We were focusing mainly on refugees flows from the Middle-East and North Africa towards Europe. Today’s 7.5 million refugee from Ukraine, out of them mainly women children, were still sitting in their homes, safely,” said Massimiliano Montanari, CEO of ICSS and Save the Dream.

“Sport plays an indisputable role to build bridges between communities, inspiring people and decision makers to overcome physical and cultural boundaries to foster social integration of refugees and ethnic minorities.

“I believe CrosSport will deliver a comprehensive programme to build capacity of those engaged in this paramount challenge”, said Joao Paulo Almeida Diretor, Geral, National Olympic Committee of Portugal.