Two Brazilian sports luminaries on Thursday joined hands with UN-HABITAT in efforts to help the youth steer away from delinquency.
‘Magic’ Paula is an award winning former Brazilian basketball star who is also the director of the Olympic Centre in Sao Paolo and founder of the NGO Instituto Passe de Magica while Luke Dowdney is the president and founder of ‘Fight for Peace’.
Meeting with the two Mrs. Tibaijukareaffirmed th e agency’s commitment to improving the welfare of young people worldwide.
Sports and urbanization went hand in hand because through sports urban youth could be helped to steer clear of delinquent behaviour, she said. The Executive Director was meeting two influential sports personalities who paid her a courtesy call.
Both organizations work with young people from disadvantaged communities to help them explore talents in sports and stay away from crime.
Mrs. Tibaijuka said Brazil in general and the city in Rio in particular offered perfect opportunities for young people to be engaged in sport since it would be hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
She disclosed that under an agreement UN-HABITAT signed with Coca Cola on Tuesday, the beverage giant was going to donate some amount of money for every goal scored at this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
“Some of this money will be given to UN-HABITAT and we are going to plough it into youth programmes,” she said.
Both Paula and Luke gave detailed descriptions of their initiatives and how they are impacting the youth.
Mrs. Tibaijuka lauded Mr. Tim Challen, the founder of the Kilimanjaro Initiative who was present for the way he had used sports to reach young people not only in East Africa but even beyond.
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