Montevideo, Uruguay- The Governments of Uruguay and Korea, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Celeste Foundation signed today a letter of intent to work together on programs that seek to prevent youth violence through sports.
The signatories of the document were the Minister of the Interior of Uruguay, Eduardo Bonomi; the Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance of the Republic of Korea, Je Yoon Shin; IDB President, Luis Alberto Moreno; and the Executive Director of the Celeste Foundation, Fernando Castellanos. Also present at the ceremony was Henry Chavez Mancheno, representative of the Real Madrid Foundation, which will also explore activities to cooperate in Uruguay.
In the ceremony, that took place during the IDB Annual Meeting , the documents were also signed by Jorge Grandi, representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), entity that will also participate in the project. Grandi signed the documents as a witness of honor. Two Uruguayan footballers and members of the Celeste Foundation, Juan Castillo and Andrés Scotti, attended in the ceremony.
The signing institutions will explore opportunities to cooperate in activities that use the practice of sports to promote social inclusion and education as well as contribute to prevent and reduce violence in underprivileged communities in Montevideo. The Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance may support the program through the Korea Poverty Reduction Fund administered by the IDB.
The activities will be developed in the context of a citizen security program aimed at preventing crime and violence, and promoting the social reintegration of vulnerable youth in conflict with the law in three low-income neighborhoods of Uruguay's capital.
The Celeste Foundation and the IDB will help the Ministry of the Interior to strengthen its capacity to mobilize new partners to support the program.