Instituto Fazer Acontecer (IFA) special bulletin, NGO that works with sport under an educational perspective in low income communities in Bahia since 2004. It serves annually around 360 teenagers in projects in the communities of Saramandaia, Calabar and Recanto Feliz in Salvador-BA and in the cities of Valente and Riachão do Jacuípe -BA. For further information, access: www.fazeracontecer.org.br
1- What is your opinion about the role of sport to form children and teenagers?

Under the perspective of an integral school (which involves complementary fields such as arts, culture, among others, besides the usual disciplines), sport is not only one more education tool. It is considered an educational process in itself. Sport is one of the strongest educational elements I can choose, both at school and in its complementary activities, as it is clear how children devote attention to it, it is part of the way they deal with ludic, because children want to play, use the body.

Sport must be used in a free process, although with educative and pegagogical methods, compatible with age, social class and the region where children live, it is, it must be inserted in children and teenagers’ life context. .
 
Ruy Pavan, UNICEF coordinator for the States of Bahia and Sergipe
2- What did motivate UNICEF to become an IFA partner?
The first reason is the commitment of the purpose of those who is in charge of the institute, which UNICEF considers fundamental for partnering. The second one is the technical competence the institute offers, it is, the institute is strictly committed to do the right thing, the institute shows a high degree of planning, organization, that demonstrates its projects are well designed, they are not offhand actions. The third one is strategic, as many few NGOs work with sport in Brazil. In Bahia, I do not know practically any, and those I know are poor, they do not have IFA’s qualities.

The partnership with IFA aims at showing the way to be followed by society, as political participation lacks to the organized civil society, in terms of claiming for sport public policies. Sport is a children and teenagers’ right, as well as education and health. It is granted in Constitution, in the Statute of the Child and Adolescent, so it must be claimed, and NGOs enable a legitimate democratic pressure to make things happen.
3- Does education-sport perspective also represent one of the reasons for that partnership?
Sure, the way of envisaging sport, the process it develops for children, not focused on results, or aiming at only developing sport skills, prioritizing to form children integrally, to form children for citizenship, is a very important factor for building that partnership and must be highlighted.
4- Which is the importance of an organization such as IFA for the State of Bahia?
Strategically, it is essential to build sport as a public policy of the State of Bahia. Even for UNICEF, sport as a part of its programs is a recent situation. For a State such Bahia, as well as for the whole Northeastern region, the indicators related to education are too poor as a rule. There is not a public policy for sport at schools, neither as a children and adults’ right nor as a way of leisure. That is a destitute field, so an active organization with a political vision of sport, as an instrument for education and citizenship is essential for the changes to take place.
5- How do you appreciate IFA’s work for the Seal of Approved Municipality?

By selecting sport as a subject of the Seal of Approved Municipality, an initial discussion about the organization of sport public policies was taken to the municipalities. We chose IFA, through concepts and principles UNICEF and the institute share, such as democratic sport, which respects values and differences among individuals, by speaking the language of education, law, and citizenship.

The importance of IFA in the Seal of Approved Municipality program is to play, together with UNICEF, the role of the civil society of urging, showing ways and presenting methodologies for municipalities to continue that work.

The developmento of workshops delivered by IFA in the countryside – through the program of the Seal – has proved we were right in choosing that paretner and we were right also about the interest the municipalities would have about that subject, as in the results survey sport was the preferred subject made available.

6- What does the teachers’ training and the graduation of groups by IFA in the countryside represent for the semi-arid region?
That is a kind of graduate course of the Seal of Approved Municipality. Unfortunately, the teachers’ training enabled by the Seal, be it due to financial reasons or time available, was very generic.
As we obtained additional resources, we decided to make an experience with two municipalities of the semi-arid region, winners of the Seal of Approved Municipality. This time, the municipalities Valente and Riachão do Jacuípe, but UNICEF is willing to spread that initiative through the liaison with other partnered programs, such as Caravan of Sport, with ESPN, among others.