Open Fun Football Schools (OFFS) is a humanitarian project organised by the Cross Cultures Project Association. It uses football to teach peaceful co-existence, tolerance and social cohesion in communities affected by conflict. OFFS brings teachers, coaches and children from different ethnic and social back grounds together through the beautiful game, thus fostering a spirit of friendship and cooperation . The project was run in 12 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998; since then it has been extended to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Moldova, Kosovo and Iraq. To run these activities, Cross Cultures has educated more than 20,000 voluntary coaches, each recruited from the communities that host the schools. Over 200,000 young people have participated in more than 1,000 Open Fun Football Schools since the project’s inception, playing football together regardless of gender, talent or social background.

In 1992, war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The violent collapse of Yugoslavia brought instability to the entire Balkan region, and to Bosnia in particular. In Bosnia, races, religions and ethnic groups that had lived together for centuries were divided by a rising tide of nationalism that led to violent massacres and ethnic cleansing.

The conflict devastated the region and the people; even years later, with peace in place, the effects of the violence can still be felt. Today’s children and young people grow up together, but separate, with different school systems for different ethnic backgrounds. They continue to suffer under the prejudices of a previous generation.

Open Fun Football Schools are run for children aged 7-12 every year. In Bosnia and Herzegovina alone, 20 schools are run in August. Great care is taken to ensure that each school engages with a balance of children from Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian backgrounds and that girls make up at least 30% of the participants. Schools move around municipalities, as young people in the area are otherwise unlikely to travel beyond their town or village. This is a key element of the project, as villages tend to be divided along ethnic lines and interact little with each other.

The schools provide children with the opportunity to have fun and mix with each other in an engaging environment that includes a range of creative drills and games, not all of which are based on football. The games are inclusive and designed to challenge the children irrespective of their athleticism. The result is a festive atmosphere where participants are motivated to engage with each other, communicate and form lasting friendships.

One of the secrets to OFFS’s success is its Train the Trainer model: OFFS recruits huge amounts of young volunteers to deliver the schools themselves. By building the capacity of volunteers across the country, OFFS reinforces a message of unity and cooperation and helps others become positive role models in their communities. Volunteer instructors who are experts in the Fun Football approach run annual seminars for volunteer leaders, each of whom trains 30 young coaches and assistant coaches. The average age of the coaches and assistant coaches is 20. This approach enables a small number of staff members working on a very limited budget to expand their reach significantly.

OFFS also ensures that enough physical equipment is available. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s long football tradition was all but devastated as a result of the conflict, which saw infrastructure, facilities and equipment burned, stolen or destroyed and teammates torn apart to become soldiers of opposing factions.

Open Fun Football Schools promote the fundamental principles of sport for all and offer both children and their young coaches a sense of friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding.

When the first Open Fun Football School was formed, the concept of social integration was not welcomed by many members of the local population. In 1998, the war was still fresh in the minds of everyone in the region, and while there were many supporters, many more individuals were simply not prepared to engage with their former enemies. The first coaching seminar was held that year in Pale, the Serbian base of military operations in the region. The selection was a deliberate statement of the need to move forward together. It was met with another deliberate statement: the site was covered in anti-Croat and anti-Bosnian graffiti. The fact that every room was repainted before the arrival of the coaches the next day is a testament to the commitment and determination that was required in the early years of OFFS.

The challenge moving forward stems in part from OFFS’s own success. Fifteen years since the conflict, the problems Bosnia and Herzegovina faces are considered by many to be a thing of the past. With funding from international donors dropping, OFFS must secure sustainable funding streams within Bosnia and Herzegovina. The region’s economy, however, is still reeling from the effects of the conflict. Unemployment hovers at 40% and basic infrastructure is underfunded.

OFFS’s chances for finding funding in this difficult environment are improved by the project’s ability to show its impact on young people. Crucially, the added value of the training provided to volunteers has sparked regrowth of grassroots football in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has attracted municipal funding.

One of the most important indicators of the success of Open Fun Football Schools has just recently become a reality. The first generation of children to play in the OFFS in the late 1990s are now themselves becoming volunteer coaches. With fond remembrances of the friends they met and the positive effect the project had on their communities, former players are taking up the mantle and offering their time to ensure the programme continues to grow.

DOWNLOAD A PDF TELLING THE STORY OF ONE OPEN FUN FOOTBALL SCHOOLS PARTICIPANTS

GO BACK TO THE OVERVIEW OF 'FOOTBALL FOR YOUTH INTEGRATION'