Fairplay July & August 2017 Highlights

We missed the regular highlights last month and so to make up for it there’s a bumper issue this time around! Things have been so busy but for all the right reasons. So here’s our highlights from another fun, exciting, and challenging time at Fairplay.

Our Biggest Partnership to Date

We are extremely happy to announce that NIVEA has now partnered with Fairplay. And in a big way!

We were so pleased that NIVEA’s values align with Fairplay as we look to:

Create safe spaces to learn and play

Caring for mothers and families through empowerment

Build healthy, caring, and healing relationships

So what does that mean?

NIVEA’s support means together we can expand our operations in a sustainable and practical way. There are three levels to this partnership; inspire, empower, and sustain.

Inspire

NIVEA are the Main Sponsor for Team Philippines in the 2018 Street Child World Cup. This is great news as it guarantees the girls’ participation in Moscow next year. Their stories, the triumph of the players making something good out of the bad they had experienced, was inspirational. In 2018 we will be sending a girls team and through NIVEA’s support each of the players will be able to share their story in the same way.

For a look back at what happened in 2014 you can see this tribute to Team Philippines, which also features what happened next for the players.

Empower

To empower the girls in our care, leagues are being created. Youth leagues are sparse in Metro Manila, and even sparser for the girls. By creating the leagues we add a step towards grassroots football but also a positive space for the girls. Regular competition, done in the right way, can have a great effect on the girls, who step up to coach the younger age groups too.

In addition, funds for the Fairplay Café renovation will help create a better environment in the kitchen for our fantastic and hard-working mothers. This helps us to expand further our work to help empower local mothers through social business.

Sustain

Aside from the developments to the Fairplay Café noted above, other aspects of NIVEA’s support also help us to make the project more sustianable. In 2016, 10% of Fairplay’s income came from social business and similar sustainable sources. This year we are on track for 20% of our income, and target 30% for next year, and so on.

But a major part in achieving these goals is building the organisational capacity. NIVEA’s support has meant we bring in a social worker to file for DSWD accreditation (now applied for), researchers (to track and monitor progress of the projects in more depth), and a finance officer to create the appropriate financial reports and ensure everyone’s support reaches the place it should.

More info will be given about that in the next highlights, but this is great news all round as for all our supporters at Fairplay there is a continually improving way to ensure your support keeps going further.

Support from Australian Embassy Grows

Fairplay supporters who have been with us some time will remember the Australian Embassy in Manila helped Fairplay construct the first court along with other sponsors; Straight Arrow, the DTSI Group, and Bootcamp. We also recently announced that the Australian Embassy will be supporting Fairplay for Stage II of the Payatas Sports Center. We’re happy to announce that this has all been secured and construction of Stage II continues.

As of the time of writing, we have completed construction of the toilet facilities (water and electricity lines have been applied for) and security guard house, the base of the bleachers (a rooftop cover in the bleacher area is planned), and will soon be improving the surrounding walls and constructing a stockroom before the second court itself is built.

We would also like to thank the Velez Family for their contribution to this project. In memory of Bobong Velez, a visionary in Philippine sportscasting who sadly passed away earlier this year, the Velez Family donated to Fairplay in his memory. Their support helped us expand the bleachers and will help us to put a cover over the space so more of the community can get involved and watch their kids play, and more teams can join for tournaments and leagues. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to the Velez family.

With everyone involved in this step we will be able to complete Stage II of the Payatas Sports Center. This means we can double our reach in the number of children and adults engaged in fun and positive sports. See some of the pictures below of the current progress, with painting and a roof to go over the bleachers yet.

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Silver Star Century Group Community Day

In July we also saw the return of the Silver Star Century Group (SSCG). Two years ago it was SSCG’s support that helped us buy and renovate the building for the Fairplay School itself. In July they came for a Community Day, with performances from the students, a buffet lunch from the Café, and a quick football match part of the activities. You can check out the fun from their Community Day here, and check this link if you’re interested in hosting your own Community Day with us here in Payatas.

Fairplay School

The Fairplay School has also completed a transition as only the full-time students part of the School are now able to join in activities. This means the drop-in center aspect of the School has been phased out to allow more time and space for the full-time students.

We have three criteria for becoming a full-time student:

The child is out of school

The child cannot afford to go back to school

Even if they could afford to go back, the child does not want to go back to public school

As of now, there are 22 full-time students who have completed the application process. We work with many more and expect there to be 45 official students with us by the end of 2017.

A bigger report on the Fairplay School’s year so far will be included in next month’s highlights.

Next time on Fairplay Highlights:

A timely report on the Fairplay School

Update on our projects’ effectiveness through out researchers

Team Philippines for the Street Child World Cup host a Conference at the British School of Manila

The Fairplay Futsal League kicks off