A senior representative of the UK-based charity Street Child United praised Qatar’s “generous” efforts in offering to host the 2022 Street Child World Cup.
According to John Wroe, co-founder and CEO of Street Child United, hosting the Street Child World Cup 2022 has been simple because of the kind-hearted people in Qatar.
Working with street-connected children is a challenging notion, but Qatar has been “fantastically kind” in making this year’s tournament a success, he said.
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“People seem to grasp what we’re going to do, and it’s been amazingly simple.” In a press conference with the media on the sidelines of the Street Child World Cup 2022 competition, Wroe said, “People in Qatar have have got large hearts, they understood we needed a lot of help and they have been generous.”
Street Child United, which hosts the Street Child World Cup, is a nonprofit organization that believes in the transformative power of sport, especially major international sporting events.
Also Qatar signed a document ‘Qatar Commitment’, giving those young people the opportunity to present their voices to the world, yesterday, during the Street Child World Cup 2022’s General Assembly served as a conclusion to a series of child-friendly congress sessions held over the course of an eight-day event, which was hosted in partnership with Qatar Foundation (QF).
The Qatar Commitment is one of a number of legacy initiatives focused on education and healthcare that will start at the Street Child World Cup, aimed at continuing to make positive change around the world in the months that follow the tournament.
Prior to the tournament, during the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) 2022, a report was launched on the health concerns and risks to health for street- connected children worldwide. The report addressed health-seeking behaviours and barriers to accessing healthcare of street- connected children.
“People like Sultana Afdhal, the CEO at WISH commissioned research on barriers to access of health for street-connected children, and it was published at WISH with our young leaders. That was a significant moment for us,” said Wroe.
He also appreciated the opportunity given for young leaders about their journey with Street Child United and how football changed their life in front of policy makers and leaders of sport and health sectors.
The UN estimates there to be over 100 million children living on the streets worldwide. Most of them are children without any formal identification; without legal rights; without access to education; and without access to healthcare. The Street Child World Cup aims to change this.
“The depth of the legacy on our work is we really focus on access to education and identity. We like to get one million birth certificates between this World Cup and next World Cup. That’s a huge number and its four years,” said Wroe, expressing hope that Qatar and other countries will support to achieve the goal.
“We would like to have additional communication, particularly on how to get our young leaders into the institutions,” he added, mentioning that Street Child United has talks with Qatari universities.
15 boys’ teams and 13 girls’ teams competed in the Street Child World Cup 2022, with 10 of the teams being children who had been displaced or refugees.
Yesterday’s championship games marked the end of the tournament.
