Former Barcelona player and legend Juan Pablo Sorín visits the project being carried out by the FC Barcelona Foundation and Scotiabank in Calakmul (Mexico)

The FC Barcelona Foundation and Scotiabank are working together with Fondo para la Paz to implement a community development project in the municipality of Calakmul, involving more than 300 children and young people from three educational institutions within this community. The visit coincided with a festival in which some of the program participants took part and was attended by the former football player and Barça legend, Juan Pablo Sorín, who treated participants to a motivational talk about his experiences as an elite footballer.

The project aims to create the right conditions and spaces to promote interaction, dialogue and exchange among educational teams, young people, families and community leaders.

The people who live in the Mexican municipality of Calakmul, one of Mexico’s poorest regions, are acutely aware of the importance of water. Ensuring the supply of drinking water is a significant problem in this area due, among other reasons, to limited water resources caused by the land’s lithological and relief features and a short, four-month long rainy season. The absence of a sewer system for wastewater management also means the population do not have access to adequate sanitation services. 

Poor nutrition is another prevalent issue in the region, particularly among children and the most disadvantaged members of the community. According to a study by the Fondo para la Paz organisation, more than 50% of women seek support and assistance from school canteens to help feed their children. Similarly, a reliance on the monoculture of corn crops in rural areas generates huge imbalances in terms of people’s diets and the proper nutrition of the families living there.

300 children from 10 communities

The FC Barcelona Foundation has, with the support of Scotiabank, been implementing this project since March. The initiative, which involves more than 650 children and young people between the ages of 6 and 14 from ten communities in the municipality of Calakmul, works to promote the acquisition of personal skills among this group, as well as to help strengthen community cohesion. This is the first intervention program that Fondo para la Paz has been able to implement within this community and it enables them to address a range of issues that affect the vulnerable population living in this municipality.

One of the goals within the context of the Barça Foundation’s Scotiabank-funded socio-educational project is to promote awareness and active engagement among local children and young people in the municipality of Calakmul in regard to the sustainable development of their communities in terms of water management and sanitation, solid-waste management and agriculture. 

Other specific objectives include equipping young adults in Calakmul with the knowledge and skills to implement recreational activities for children and teenagers, improving the physical and emotional health of children and young people in Calakmul through the creation of safe spaces for healthy leisure activities, as well as providing access to a range of educational and recreational activities within the communities.