The Henry V. Moran Foundation (Moran Foundation or the Foundation) seeks to use the power of football/futsal to make a positive impact on marginalized and at-risk Filipino youth who are living in conflict areas on the island region of Mindanao.
In the past decade, the Philippines witnessed a growth in violent extremism especially in Mindanao. With the rise of the radical ISIS-backed Islamic Maute Group in Marawi, youth in Marawi have become highly vulnerable to recruitment to violent extremism, especially to recruitment by such groups due to the presence of prevalent social and economic ills – poverty, lack of access to fundamental rights and opportunities, lack of a sense of belonging, and disillusionment to formal government and peace proceedings.
The Henry V. Moran Foundation is targeting Marawi to directly understand and address the pathways to recruitment of youth to extremist groups and to improve their situation. The goal of addressing such risks to the youth in Marawi can be accomplished by promoting positive universal values and life skills training, encouraging active community and parent involvement in the training, providing physical activities & games which are age appropriate and values based, and organizing sports programs such as futsal in safe play areas to allow these children to play and have fun. Together, these approaches lessen the risk of youth being radicalized and manipulated to join extremist groups.
The Moran Foundation will be the lead organization in a collaboration of groups focused on play-based interventions that promote peace. It will work with Gawad Kalinga, a nonprofit organization with a proven track record in engaging and organizing communities in the target location, the Ministry of Education of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and the Philippine Football Federation.
BENEFICIARY GROUP
The beneficiary group are male and female youth ages 9- 12 years old studying in 22 public elementary schools in Marawi. We will also work with key community members such as teachers, administrators, parents, community leaders, mothers, and other religious leaders who play significant, influential and leading roles in the lives of these youth.
ISSUE & APPROACH
A. Issue/Opportunity that this program will address
The need to address the risks Marawi youth face such as recruitment to violent extremism, conflict, and lack of economic opportunities. These issues will be addressed through:
- Values and Life Skills Development
- Physical Activities & games which are age appropriate and provide experiential learning to youth to help achieve item 1 above.
- Futsal programs that allow the youth to play, stress-debrief, and have fun.
- Community, parent and teacher involvement to ensure the objective in items 1-3 above are achieved, bringing about holistic positive behavior change for the children and all stakeholders in the community.
PROGRAM STRATEGY, ACTIVITIES & RESULTS
Location – Ground Zero
This project aims to work directly in the heart of affected areas as opposed to working in cities and towns that are deemed safer and less risky. If an organization seeks to address a program effectively, it must go straight to the root and the core in “Ground Zero”, and not opts to operate in doing programs outside of the affected city, where the community issues and needs can be quite different.
Collaborators
In order to achieve the program’s objective, the Foundation will work closely with influential stakeholders in Marawi such as the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation (GK), a well-known, Filipino NGO who has a stellar track record in engaging and organizing communities in Marawi and with GK is a former recipient of the Ramon Magasaysay Award, Asia’s Nobel Prize.
GK will also be tapped to help develop the community organizers as well as monitor activities on the ground. The Ministry of Education will also partner with the Moran Foundation to play a lead role insofar as organizing schools, students, and participants in the program. They will also be key in determining what values and life skills are most appropriate to the local situation and culture and will assist the program in its efforts of identifying, training, and implementing the development of Community coordinators and parents who will support the program.
Lastly, the Philippine Football Federation will also partner with the Henry V. Moran Foundation to provide guidance, trainers, equipment and technical assistance insofar as futsal and football training is concerned.
Approach & Activities
The project addresses weak local governance – and how this affects and leads to the pathways for youth recruitment to extremism. Through play, inclusivity, positive alternatives, and youth engagement, the Moran Foundation aims to build social cohesion, peace-building, and resiliency of the youth and their community.
The program will encourage young children to finish school, solve conflicts peacefully, develop relevant real-life skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, empathy, and self-awareness to improve their economic and social outcomes. With play and futsal, we will increase the moral and aspiration of the vulnerable at-risk youth and provide an opportunity to be part of a family and community, building on that sense of belonging and connectedness.Futsal will be used due to the lack of play areas and spaces in Marawi. The objectives will be obtained through the following activities:
1) Regular play-based sessions will integrate tproven methodologies in the realm of sports for social impact where activities are organized for mediation and peace-building. The principles of fair play, gender equality, teamwork, respect, non-competitive games, and inclusivity (everyone has the right to play) are more important than the technical skills and competition.
2) Seminars and workshops where community coordinators will be trained to deliver mentoring sessions together with parents to develop a personalized pathway for their academic and career goals, psycho-social support, and linkages to life-changing opportunities such as internships, scholarships, and employment.
3) Futsal festivals and games in Marawi will be open for all providing a community gathering for the region. The futsal games will build a better sense of community regardless of age, skill, talent level, gender, religion, and socio-economic background, a critical factor in addressing the roots of conflict in the region
4) Capacity-building seminars in the form of trainings for both the coaches and the community coordinators will be given to community members focusing on using play and sport, and their involvement in the youth’s activities as a tool for peace-building and social cohesion, basic psycho-social support, and identifying at-risk youth.
5) Monitoring & Evaluation once a month among all collaborators will ensure the project will achieve its objectives. This will be followed by a third party study by an academic institution to measure the results of the program
Technical experts from the Ministry of Education and education consultants from the private sector will meet before in a 3-day conference and training for the implementation of the program to provide technical guidance, establish culturally appropriate course content, and form a framework to ensure program results. The Philippine Football Federation will be involved to provide technical direction in terms of training and development.
Results
Planned Results
- 4,500 students in 22 public elementary schools participating in the program
- 1 futsal festival in Marawi with 5,000 participants
- At least 66 community coordinators and coaches trained to deliver the training modules and programs.
Desired Long-Term Outcomes
- Evidence of increased opportunities, and improved social and economic outcomes among the youth
- Evidence of increased life-skills and values with improved resiliency for the at-risk youth and adults in the communities
- Evidence of children and youth who are out-of-school going back to school and finish school, and in-school youth to finish their schooling
- Evidence of increased participation of parents and adults in the community in the program who adopt positive mindsets to address community issues through peaceful and positive means.
TRACK RECORD
The Henry V. Moran Foundation is one of the Philippines pioneering NGO’s in using football and futsal for social impact. The Moran Foundation helped start, fund, and implement the sports programs of Gawad Kalinga (GK), Tuloy sa Don Bosco, and various other NGO’s who use sports, specifically football and futsal, to benefit Filipino youth.
Working closely with the Philippine Football Federation and its local member associations, the foundation has pioneered and implemented the first Philippine representatives to the Homeless World Cup (2008), Street Child World Cup (2010) and Cerebral Palsy Football Philippines (2019).
In 2015, the foundation also launched sports programs in over 300 public schools in Metro Manila with its close collaboration with the Philippine Department of Education called “Liga Eskwela Futsal”.
In 2019, its programs together with the Department of Education will expand to Cebu province, Bohol, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Calabarzon, and the Cordillera Administrative Region impacting more than 5,000 children.
Since its start in 2003, the foundation has impacted over 15,000 Filipino youth.