Living up to the success of previous years, 2019 proved to be another exciting football year for international NGO World Vision and mobile telecommunications operator Smart Axiata, who organised the third One Goal National Tournament on Saturday at Smart RSN Stadium.

The tournament involved 260 young people, including 130 young girls, from teams of the annual One Goal Programme, implemented in 13 districts across Cambodia.

After the successful One Goal pilot in three districts (Area Programmes) in 2017, the programme was scaled up to 12 districts in 2018 and to 13 districts this year, directly impacting 2,039 adolescents, 41 per cent girls, in 2019, particularly the most vulnerable ones. The number will be doubled to some 4,000 adolescents in 2020.

“The One Goal Programme and One Goal team community is based on the foundation of engaging and supporting as many vulnerable young people as possible to develop positive relationships and gain essential life skills necessary for resilience building as well as making healthy life choices to reduce risk-taking behaviours,” said World Vision Senior Programme Manager Sarin Say.

The One Goal programme will continue contributing towards improving the targeted communities’ quality of life. It also envisions improving the capacity of youth skills to maximise their unleashed talents and potential.

“Besides being a source of exercise and a healthy lifestyle, football builds friendship, promotes diversity and encourages teamwork,” said Anthony Perkins, Chief Digital Services Officer at Smart Axiata.

“We have partnered with World Vision for three years now as we believe that the One Goal Programme has successfully engaged thousands of young boys as well as girls in a wide range of constructive activities and essential skills for the future, through sports.

“We hope this programme continues to create positive impact on our vulnerable youth across Cambodia.”

With a presence in close to 100 countries and 50,000 employees and volunteers worldwide, World Vision is a global NGO focusing on the wellbeing of children through development and humanitarian programmes.

In Cambodia, World Vision works in 39 districts across the capital and 10 provinces implementing health and nutrition, education and life skills, child protection and youth projects benefiting 2.7 million children every year.

Smart Axiata Co Ltd is Cambodia’s leading mobile telecommunications operator, currently serving eight million subscribers under the ‘Smart’ brand.

The national football tournament is held annually as a closure to that year’s One Goal Programme to build, strengthen and celebrate the relationships and friendships among the most vulnerable young people, while motivating them to be strongly engaged in personal and community development.