Colombia

FÚTBOL CON CORAZÓN

Founded in November 2007, Colombia’s Fútbol con Corazón (Football with Heart) – Goals That Change The World, opened its first operation in March 2008 in the neighbourhood of La Paz in Barranquilla, with 300 children and young people who were exposed to social problems.

FCC aim to work with children and young people between 5 and 17 years old and their families, who have a high degree of vulnerability, as well as people exposed to substance and alcohol abuse, illegal recruitment, displaced by violence (these people are usually homeless), gangsterism, etc.

They have impacted the lives of more than 20,000 children throughout Colombia.

ORGANISATION DETAILS

PARTICIPANTS

Children and young people between 5 and 17 years old and their families, who have a high degree of vulnerability, as well as people exposed to substance and alcohol abuse, illegal recruitment, displaced by violence (these people are usually homeless), gangsterism, etc.

LOCATIONS

Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Cartagena, Valledupar, Medellín and Bogotá.

Country statistics

83 out of 189 in Human Development Index rankings (UNDP 2020)

Average salary per person $14,600 (World Bank 2020)

36% of the 50 million population live below the poverty line (World Population Review 2021)

Due to the five-decades-long armed conflict since 1964, Colombia was long seen as the country suffering the highest numbers of internally displaced people. Since the government started collecting data in 1985, this reached more than 8 million, or 16% of the population being temporarily or permanently homeless according to Human Rights Watch 2022.

The Peace Accord in 2016 between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government saw the official end to the armed conflict, and an initial decline in violence. However, remote areas of the country continue to suffer conflict-related violence by other armed groups, forcing people to leave their homes and flee to safety. At the end of 2020, Internal Displacement recorded nearly five million people still displaced, many of them requiring urgent support. They flee to urban slums which have mushroomed on the outskirts of many large cities, where living conditions are precarious, and housing is considered inadequate to meet basic needs.

In addition, Colombia has received by far the largest number of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants fleeing the human rights and economic crisis in Venezuela. As of August 2021, more than 1.8 million Venezuelans lived in Colombia, most with unmet housing needs. Human Rights Watch 2022