FAQs

What is the Deloitte Street Child World Cup?

The first ever Deloitte Street Child World Cup event took place in March 2010 in Durban, South Africa.  The event brought together teams of street children from eight different countries for a seven-a-side football tournament.  Through the global languages of football and the arts, they communicated together about the ways in which street children’s rights are violated.  Through their football, artwork and spirit, they demonstrated the tremendous potential of street children.

Through a variety of means, the project continues to challenge the ways that street children are perceived and treated around the world:

- the Philippine team is sharing its experiences through the media and through events in Manila, including inspiring others to campaign around issues of child labour.

- in Ukraine, the Deputy Regional Governer, who came to the event, was inspired by the methods of the DSCWC conference to enable children to participate more in the running of orphanages.

- in South Africa, the artwork created by the children at the DSCWC event is still being displayed at the Durban Art Gallery.  Through the period of the FIFA World Cup, street children will be acting as guides at the gallery, to give visitors a taster of the DSCWC, where street children were allowed to speak for themselves.

The DSCWC is looking towards future events which will continue to tell positive stories about street children.  These could include events in the UK and Ukraine in 2012 and possibly another Street Child World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

How can the Deloitte Street Child World Cup effectively address this huge issue?

There are lots of brilliant organisations around the world doing innovative and inspiring work with street children. The Deloitte Street Child World Cup takes this fantastic work and write it large.

Umthombo Street Children, our South African host organisation, which is primarily run by street children, is a good example. Umthombo is helping street children reintegrate into families and communities, enabling them to access education, training them for a positive future and protecting them from abuse. Umthombo, and organisations like it, listen to street children and give their opinions weight. This is what makes their work a success – street children are the experts at street living and best know what can make a difference in their lives.

The Deloitte Street Child World Cup holds up a megaphone to the voices of street children so that they are heard by their governments and the outside world. By identifying issues and solutions with the children themselves, we believe that we can work with governments to improve lives for thousands of street children.

How did you make sure the street child participants are OK before, during, and after this huge experience?

We worked with street child organisations that we trust. They’re the experts in empowering street children and helping them build long term futures.  Each organisation, knowing its local context, planned a programme for the participating children, which included:

• preparation in-country in advance of the event
• a programme of training, support (and fun!) in Durban
• support on return, including in some cases schemes enabling the children to use their new skills and confidence as peer mentors and advocates.

Did street children go back to the streets after they took part?

All of the street child participants were involved in programmes with the international partner organisations, which  support them in building secure long-term futures. With the exception of the South African team, all of them had places to live – with families, foster families, or in other settings – during much of the preparation phase.  So they all had safe places to return to following the event.

In the case of the South African team, all of the children were working with social workers to address some of the barriers to their return home – and seven out of nine of the children reintegrated into homes following event.  The remaining two are undertaking work experience with Umthombo in order to help them build independent lives.

Who is involved?

The Deloitte Street Child World Cup is a global partnership led by Amos Trust. The Consortium for Street Children, Street Action, Momentum Arts, Global Goals, and Child Rights Information Network are providing key expertise and support.

The event will be hosted in Durban by Umthombo Street Children and the Durban University of Technology.

Teams are being organised by innovative and effective street child organisations: .

• Action for Brazil’s Children
• Casa Alianza, Nicaragua
• De Paul International, Ukraine
• A network of partners, Philippines
• Khalsa Football Academy and their Punjab based partners, Youth Football Club Rurka Kalan, India
• Caretakers of the Environment (Tanzania)
• M13 Youth Project (UK)

Schools involved in the ‘Dreams and Teams’ programme, run by Youth Sport Trust and the British Council will support and host the teams. Coaching for Hope will provide specialised football coaching.

The Street Child World Cup demonstrates the tremendous potential of every single child, and especially street children, who are so often treated as less than human. I am proud that the first ever Street Child World Cup will take place in South Africa – and I urge all governments to guarantee the rights of this most marginalised group of their citizens to lives in which their promise is fulfilled.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

I’ve played football as a teenager with the world watching me. The Street Child World Cup is a brilliant project which will help hundreds of thousands of teenagers who live on the streets by getting the world to listen to them and give them a fair chance.
Theo Walcott

The Football Association commends initiatives such as the Street Child World Championships which use the power of football to make a difference to people’s lives.
Lord David Triesman, The Football Association

I see there is a UK team, but the UK doesn’t have street children. Who is representing the UK?

The team that represented the UK came from the M13 Youth Project in Manchester.  M13’s vision is to care for young people who are growing up in communities that are amongst the most deprived in the country.  This was a fantastic opportunity for the young people on the project to see first hand how children from other countries cope with life on the streets.   We are delighted to have them on board.

We are really excited at this life-changing opportunity to take a group of local young people to meet, play and learn together with young people from around the world and to win rights for street children.
Helen Gatenby, Manager, M13 Youth Project

What happens next?

Durban 2010 was the first Street Child World Cup, ever, but we think there’s massive potential to use the power of football to continue campaigning for street children’s rights. The way we see that happening in the next few years is:

• by producing a report about the issues that the street children have identified as important;
• taking the issues that the street children have identified and campaign strategically on them – we want to see some real changes in how street children are treated;
• looking to hold future events in:
  • Ukraine (2012 European Cup finals)
  • Brazil (2014 FIFA World Cup finals)
  • The UK (possible hosts 2018 FIFA World Cup finals)

How can I help?

You can make a difference to street children’s lives:

• Donate money (go to www.streetchildworldcup.org)
• Get together with other people and holding a fundraising event – how about a football match and braai?  (South African barbecue). Click here to apply for a fundraising pack.
• Volunteer –  we have a number of roles to fill in the UK. Email us  info@streetchildworldcup.org and let us know what you can do for us.
• Spread the word – tell others, put it on Facebook, give a talk at your church.

Wouldn’t it be better to just give the money directly to partner projects/build lots of houses/hand out food?

We want to deal with the root causes of the problem. Why are children on the streets in the first place? Why are they so often denied support or protection when they’re there? Why are they not heard?

By bringing together street children from all over the world and allowing their voices to be heard, we believe we can begin to address some of the causes of the issue. Wouldn’t it be great if there no longer had to be any street child organisations because all children had safe, secure places to go?

Is it possible to get involved through my company sponsoring the event?

We are grateful and excited that Deloitte are overall sponsors of the Street Child World Cup.

There are further opportunities for companies to be involved in supporting the project. If your company would like to be involved in this way please contact Jenny Dawkins for more information.

Did you say this was the first ever? I’ve heard of something similar.

Perhaps you’re thinking of the Homeless World Cup. There’s been a Homeless World Cup every year since 2003 and their success at holding celebratory, positive events is part of what inspires us.

The Deloitte Street Child World Cup is a bit different. 14-16 year olds formed our teams. By enabling street children to get education, healthcare, and fair treatment, it’s not just individual lives that are transformed, but the lives and futures of whole communities. The Deloitte Street Child World Cup focusses on campaigning for better treatment for street children, first of all in participating countries, and then, through a process of demonstrating and celebrating positive initiatives, throughout the world.

The Deloitte Street Child World Cup is committed to investing in the long-term futures of the participants. That means a process of training and support before, during and after the event, in order that they can become mentors, advocates, and sources of inspiration for their peers.  This is one reason we won’t be holding an event every year. At the moment, we are thinking about holding an event every four years – following the pattern of the FIFA World Cup.

That’s a clue to our other distinctive feature. The first Street Child World Cup was held in South Africa, host for the first African FIFA World Cup, in the summer of 2010.

Children who live on the streets are routinely abused and ignored. Football allows them rare moments to excel and to escape. We want to celebrate their passion for football – and enabling policy-makers – those that sometimes wish to ‘clear up’ cities of street children in advance of international events – to see them as talented, potential-filled, young people who, with the right opportunities, can make fantastic contributions to great cities.