FOR
The Besongabang Football for Hope Centre embraces the region’s vernacular to
create a meeting and athletic centre for the entire community.
Host Organization: United Action for Children. Football-based programmes since 2002.
Mission: To use football as a tool to promote cooperation, unity, peace, responsibility and tolerance among
young people.
About the Centre Host: United Action for Children (UAC) has been working with orphans, street and other
vulnerable children for the last five years. UAC uses football’s popularity to get young people off the streets and
into classrooms and training centres. Through inter-quarterly and holiday football tournaments, the project
provides HIV/AIDS awareness while trying to tackle poverty, youth unemployment/child labour and intertribal conflicts in the respective region. The participating youths have the opportunity to take part in innovative
programs including the provision of basic education and vocational training in woodwork, painting and IT as
well as workshops on HIV/AIDS education, sports and disability issues. Through these programs, the street
football world network member (since 2005) strives to create a caring society and environment for children
and young people in Cameroon.
Design: Nathan Jones. As noted in UAC’s Mission Statement, football will be used as a tool for promoting peace,
the proposed FFH centre is orientated to provide optimal viewing for young people to witness the benefits of
co-operation and the many lessons in team sports. Additionally, there is a close-relationship between the pitch
and the 85m2 classroom, so theoretic ideas are never far from team games and team games are never far from
the theory.
The centre will act as a forum in terms of being a public meeting place, a place where people meet to share
ideas to facilitate the centre host’s vision of health and education development. The meeting place concept was
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