The activities were carried out weekly and were composed of a football training of one to two hours. Different trainers worked with a social worker to plan, design, develop and evaluate the training sessions.

The activities were carried out in two locations: AaB’s club and schools. To enhance implementation, the AaB collaborated with schools that were close to the social house where the children and young people were hosted.

Other steps in securing the collaboration included:

– Agreeing with the school on the type of collaboration considering the federal fee.

– Facilitating meetings between the school, participants’ families and trainer to present the project in detail and address any queries regarding the activities and the collaboration between these stakeholders.

– Using the club’s digital pitch for sessions to give each young individual targets. This gave children and youth the opportunity for each young player to challenge him/herself and to play in competition within the group. Each player could access its scores via an App. The youth had the option to play digitally exercises against their idol at professional level that uses the same frame of exercises.

The monitoring of the courses was done weekly during the training sessions and advice was given to the participants by professionals.

All the project partners from external institutions

were highly experienced and trained to work with

children who have a different background, marginalised

children and youth programmes in general. This ensured a safe and secure environment for all participants.

During the evaluation phase AaB measured how many of the children and youth from the social housing took part in the after-school activity. They noticed that 60% of all the children and youth were registered in the programme.

The evaluation from the participants was positive, as all the participants declared a group feeling and appreciation from the team.

One noticeable result was the need of developing additional programmes for the young trainers so they could take ownership on their teams moving forward.

Another possible improvement would be in the follow-up of the young trainers, organising constant meetings with them to be updated on any issue that may arise.

Additionally, the project’s team noticed:

– The need of frequent communication with the school partner in the programme –ensuring that the organisation could provide support in cases where children/ youth are having problems.

– The need for a continuous communication with the social workers and their involvement in in the after-school programme.

The success of the intervention was due to the involvement of the community and the close collaboration with the partners.

Particular attention should be given to the children and youth who attend the activities outside the daily school programme. Youth between 16-18 need to be given extra support during their transition to adulthood.

Through the project the participants were given tools and have shown an improvement in behaviour and attitude. The participants showed improvements in teamwork which reflected in other social aspects as well.

At quantitative level, the project achieved the following:

– 60% from the children and youth in social housing participated in after school activities.

– Almost 100 new football members in grassroot clubs in AaB and ther clubs.

– Feedback from the participants has been positive.

– Stakeholders appreciated the cooperation and were satisfied with the implementation process.