Up Sport!

Global action dedicated to newly-arrived migrants

PROJECT OWNER

Name of the project owner: Up Sport! unis pour le sport

Status of the project owner:  local association

Area of work of the project owner: Sport / Social integration / Health / Migration / Citizenship
Website of Up Sport!

PROJECT

France

Geographic scope of project: local

Project objective: Educate and transmit values through sport / Develop competences for active citizenship / Promote social diversity / Practice a physical activity for physical/mental health / Promote access to volunteering in sport

Types of sport or physical activity carried out: badminton, futsal, basketball, zumba, cross-fit, cardio boxing, running, gateball, archery, walking, soft gym

Partnership / supports: Grants / Human resources (12 volunteers) / Other partners (sports clubs, recycling services of sports equipment, supportive structures)

Project duration: years (start: 1.10.2017). Could be continued.

Project status: Underway

Supervising staff: Volunteers

Summary of the project: The project is based on the idea that sport is not a luxury but a right everyone should be allowed to exercise. Besides its unquestionably positive effects on health, sport can play a tremendous role in social life as it brings self-confidence, creates social links and networks and makes it possible to acquire or reveal competences.

The objective of the project is to facilitate the integration of migrants living in the inner city of Paris through sport. We coach and support them in their sports activities within the facilities of our association first, and then outside our facilities to allow a progressive social inclusion. For the moment we are mainly active in the West part of Paris, but intend to cover the whole city and its close suburb.

We have implemented a Test & Learn approach to better understand our beneficiaries' expectations and to adapt our activities.

We mainly communicate via Whatsapp: we have created a group for each activity and use this way to disseminate useful information (training hours and venue, meeting points, etc.). Our beneficiaries speak different languages. We usually disseminate information in French, English and German to reach as many people as possible.

Our beneficiaries are not only migrants. They also include people in fragile or precarious situations. After bigger gatherings, we usually organise a coffee break where each beneficiary and volunteer contributes. This allows to discover new dishes and cultures and to learn more about the others.

TARGET GROUP

Country of origin: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Mali

Type of migration: Refugees, asylum-seekers, economic migrants, envrionmental migrants, people without proper papers

Target beneficiary: Families / Men only / Women only

Target age group: 21-60