Innovations: Sports and art project targets local links

Shafik Meghji, Regeneration & Renewal, 20 July 2007

Care recently organised the Unity Cup, an inter-faith, cross-cultural football tournament designed to break down barriers. Teams were picked at random to ensure that different ethnic groups were playing with rather than against each other. Programme manager Michael Seeraj answers our panel's questions.

- Q: How effective was the Unity Cup in promoting social cohesion?

A: The cup gave young people an opportunity to mix with others from different backgrounds. It was a football tournament with a twist. We invited young people to take part and divided them into ethnically and religiously mixed teams. More than 17 nations were represented.

- Q: How has the local community responded to your work?

A: We've had a great response. We work very closely with faith groups, black and minority ethnic groups, people with learning difficulties and older people. We specifically target under-represented groups and people in regeneration areas, and find out what they want from us. We ask participants for feedback on all projects, and the response we've had from kids and parents alike, for example for the Unity Cup, has been very positive.

-Q: Have you received any backing from the Football Association and the Commission for Racial Equality?

A: We're closely linked to the FA through Charlton Athletic, and we also work with the football anti-racism campaign Kick It Out. We do programmes with the CRE and we are also connected to them through former Chelsea and Celtic footballer Paul Elliot, who is an ambassador for us and a CRE special adviser.

- Q: Have the views of faith groups on issues such as gender proved tricky when running sports schemes?

A: We haven't really faced those kinds of problems, but we respect all the different cultural traditions. We target underserved groups, and as part of that do a lot of work with women and girls. We run women-only swimming, basketball and football sessions, for example; not to appease objections on religious grounds, but simply because participants tend to prefer them. The football sessions are all run by female coaches and footballers.

- Q: What advice would you give to someone keen to do similar work?

A: You need to know your target community, work hard and not get disheartened. Sports and the arts have a universal appeal and can be used to get people engaged in their community and their future.

- Q: What new projects do you have coming up?

A: We've just secured funding for a programme for young people who are not in work or education. It will offer music and broadcasting training and qualifications in basic literacy and numeracy. We will then invite employers, people from further education and training providers to meet the young people and discuss opportunities with them.

THE PANEL

Questions were compiled with help from Dr Krishna Sarda, chief executive of charity the Ethnic Minority Foundation, and Claire Lawless, associate consultant at URS Economics and Development.

- Contact us: If you know of an innovative scheme that merits closer scrutiny, email Adam Branson at adam.branson@haymarket.com.