A European network and a certified training pathway for the people who bring young refugees into sport.
CrosSport worked on the integration of young refugees through sport, and on the practical problem underneath it: the people best placed to bring young refugees into sport are rarely trained for it, and the organisations that reach refugees seldom work with the organisations that run sport.
The project identified and connected organisations and projects working on refugee integration through sport at local, national and European level. National focus groups of experts mapped good practice, which the partners turned into a methodology handbook and a certified training programme for two new roles: the Community Leader for Inclusion through Sport (CLIS) and the Sport for Inclusion Activist (SIA).
CrosSport was the first EU project coordinated by Save the Dream, which led it together with the International Olympic Truce Centre, the Sevilla FC Foundation and Fondazione S.S. Lazio 1900. Over 36 months it also built an international network of sport and refugee-support organisations, so that cooperation between the two sectors does not have to start from scratch with every new project. The final conference was held in Lisbon in 2024, to mark World Refugee Day.
Photo: CrosSport and Save the Dream materials at a project event in Portugal.
PROJECT FACTS
| Implementation period | 2021 – June 2024 (36 months) |
| Where | Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece |
| Focus | Integration of young refugees through sport |
| Our role | Project coordinator |
| Outputs | Methodology handbook, certified CLIS and SIA training, international network |
| Funding | European Union |
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