INSPIRE project for children in Sri Lanka with the UEFA Foundation

I.N.S.P.I.R.E

Thanks to the UEFA Foundation, Handicap International (HI) launched on September 15, 2018, with its local partners, the project "INSPIRE": Introducing Sports for Peace Inclusion and Reconciliation, to improve social participation and the education for boys and girls with disabilities in Sri Lanka, Batticaloa and Ampara districts (Eastern Province)

Project content

This project aims to contribute to the educational and social inclusion of disabled and non-disabled children in Sri Lanka. School-based and child-led inclusive sport and leisure activities will be a great opportunity for boys and girls with and without disabilities to explore their potential, interact with each other in a safe environment, and challenge social barriers.

Activities and training will focus on teaching inclusive sport and leisure activities. Special care will be given to ensuring an understanding of how to adapt rules, environments and material to facilitate the active participation of all children in the same activities, at the same time, in the same environment. 

Additionally the training for coaches and sport clubs will address individual sports and leisure activities such as cricket, football and volleyball and the use of adaptive equipment, rules and environments, and will also focus on games for younger children, with various educational messages. Relationship building will be initiated through sports events involving young people and children from different ethnic, religious, linguistic, caste, and social and economic backgrounds.

An educational and inclusive project

This project aims to include 700 children, including 200 children with disabilities and 2,000 young people, including 500 with a disability. 40 teachers and coaches are trained in the appropriate care of children with disabilities, and adapt and facilitate inclusive sport and promote social cohesion and inclusion through sport.

The project's objectives

•    To help local NGOs develop inclusive sports services.
•    To equip sport and community stakeholders with tools to implement inclusive sport and leisure activities for children and young people with and without disabilities, and demonstrate social inclusion to local authorities.
•    To train teachers and coaches to enable them to implement inclusive sport initiatives.
•    To strengthen collaboration and trust between divided groups through inclusive sport and leisure initiatives to promote social cohesion and reconciliation so that all Sri Lankans can live together in peace.