As part of a partnership between Fare and FIFA, a pool of $110,000 USD has been made available in grants to address discrimination in football ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Global Grants are aimed at developing inclusion and expertise worldwide and are split into three categories. For playing activities grants of up to $1,000 are available; for sharing information grants of up to $2,500, and for developing expertise and innovation there are grants of up to $5,000. The grants are funded as part of an agreement with FIFA in the run-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup and will be distributed, monitored, and evaluated by Fare.

As a universal language football provides a methodology of its own to tackle discrimination, promote empowerment and integration; it also has unique issues that act as an echo chamber for social problems that require addressing.

Grants allow organisations to follow up on incidents and issues of discrimination in domestic and international football by developing debates, mechanisms of change and build capacity. At the same time, they are available for football for development initiatives to help social inclusion on a community level.

A statement on the Fare website said, "The Fare network believes collaboration and the sharing of experience from the grassroots upwards is the way to bring about positive change. In this context we are offering the Fare Global Grants aimed at supporting the work of organisations in five continents to stimulate social change through football and expertise development.

The grants are for projects taking place outside Europe, but European organisations can apply in partnership with organisations in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Oceania if the grant is used in the country of origin of the partner organisation.

You can find our more about the Global Grants at the Fare website here: http://farenet.org/news/global-grants-develop-inclusion-expertise-worldwide/.

Published 03/01/2018