BARCELONA, Spain - Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and Ramón Pont Amenós, senior vice president of the FC Barcelona Foundation, today signed a cooperation agreement to promote the development of projects that promote cooperation through sport.
"We wish to help children and youth in Latin America and the Caribbean become productive members of their communities through sport," said Moreno. "We will provide support to them to help prevent violence, promote social inclusion, and to complete their education and improve employment opportunities."
The two institutions plan to develop a plan to implement strategic programs with clear objectives, performance indicators, and evaluation mechanisms.
The IDB and the FC Barcelona Foundation, expect to begin collaborating in sport for development activities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with support from stakeholders, other Bank programs, and the city’s municipal government.
In this major partnership, the FC Barcelona Foundation will be providing its knowledge and experience in sport for children and young people. It will also facilitate the visibility of results achieved through the Barça trademark all over the world.
The IDB seeks to incorporate sports activities for development within each loan program in the 12 host cities in Brazil in areas such as tourism, urban development, violence prevention, health and education. These activities are designed to continue beyond the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
The Inter-American Development Bank, a leader in multilateral financing for Latin America and the Caribbean, is helping to accelerate the process of economic and social development of its borrowing member countries in the region.
In the past 25 years, the IDB has approved more than US$5 billion in loans for young people, especially in education, health and employment, and including sports and youth.
The Futbol Club Barcelona Foundation’s was created in 1994. It aims to disseminate and encourage the culture of training, education, culture, and social life of the Futbol Club Barcelona team to society at large, focusing especially on adolescence and youth.
Currently, its projects using mainly sports as a tool for social inclusion, reach more than 220,000 beneficiaries in the world.
The agreement between the IDB and the FC Barcelona Foundation is aimed at supporting programs and projects that promote cooperation for fostering initiatives that use sport as a tool for development and social inclusion of at-risk and vulnerable children and youth in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Sports for Development
The IDB is promoting the Sport for Development program with partners that include the Government of the Republic of Korea, FIFA, Coca Cola, the Futbol Club Barcelona Foundation, Trilogy International, Brightstar Corporation, Fundación Atlético de Madrid, and Streetfootballworld, among others, to turn football and sport into a vehicle for encouraging social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The IDB is using the Sport for Development program primarily in activities focused on preventing violence and promoting social inclusion, and empowering girls and young women living in poverty. The aim is to harness the power of sport to encourage girls to take control of their lives and become active and responsible members of society.