Sport as a vehicle for improving people's lives

Creativity has a prominent place in the DNA of the Cepaim Foundation, which is reflected, above all, in the way in which the initiatives that are carried out are approached. Its objectives of aid and social improvement are reflected in innovative projects such as ‘Football and Sport’, in which sport is used as a tool for social cohesion and which won an award at the latest edition of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation Awards for Social Innovation.


‘This innovative spirit gave rise to the idea of using sport as a tool to improve people's lives,’ argues Mehrad Alizadeh, regional director of Cepaim in Extremadura and coordinator of the Navalmoral de la Mata centre, where the initiative was born. ‘The project materialised in 2019 thanks to the support of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation and from the beginning it has been very well received both by the inhabitants of the municipality and by entities and associations in the area’. 


Jaime Cortés, sports technician at the Cepaim Foundation, knows first-hand the cross-cutting benefits of the initiative: ‘From helping to establish links between migrants and local people by improving the language, to encouraging social relations for elderly people in residential homes to alleviate their loneliness’. Thanks to the sensations experienced when doing sport, it is possible to work towards social integration objectives and above all to ‘generate community’, adds Cortés. 

Sport as the backbone of social cohesion

The physical and psychological benefits of sport are well known, but Cepaim focuses a large part of its proposal on the social benefits, as Alizadeh explains: ‘We take away the competitive aspect of sport and promote the coexistence that is generated between people through exercise’. To achieve this, Cepaim has developed a series of activities that are adapted to each group and their needs in the different areas of action. 


One of the most successful proposals establishes an open space, in the centre of Navalmoral de la Mata itself, for migrants assisted by the foundation and the local population to practice, in groups and free of charge, sports such as football, indoor football, gymnastics or basketball. In a natural way, explains Jaime Cortés, ‘bonds are created through games and sports, and social relationships are generated that would not otherwise exist’. These weekly meetings revitalise the social fabric of the town and promote intercultural coexistence.

Networking with entities in the area is also one of the key points of the project. This collaboration allows access to adapted sports for people from vulnerable groups. ‘Instead of assigning a specific sport to each group, we let them choose how we can help them or what sports they want to practice, and we adapt to better meet their needs,’ explains Cortés. 


‘Hincha sénior’ is the proposal designed for senior citizens, another of the most popular initiatives. It includes activities, such as hiking routes or adapted gymnastics classes, whose main objective is to help elderly people living in residences or in solitude to increase their social interactions. The contact with nature, the exercise and the conversations that take place in these meetings invigorate the social life of the elderly and reverse their isolation.

Participants who become volunteers

‘Football and sport’ also has an educational aspect. Through talks and sports activities in schools, social integration is worked on with students and teachers. 


Juan Pablo Gounis González participated in the programme as a beneficiary during his school years and is currently an active volunteer. His experience gives him a fundamental point of view that he then transfers to his volunteer work: ‘Participating in the project helped me a lot to widen my circle of friends and to meet more people’. Nowadays, his volunteering in ‘Football and sport’ helps him to be more aware of the social reality of his environment in order to contribute to improving the daily life ‘especially for the elderly, who go unnoticed’. 


In Cepaim, Juan Pablo's testimony is a great example of the bond that is generated within the programme: ‘The best evidence that the project works is that the people who have experienced it first-hand want to continue to be involved and contribute’, says Mehrad Alizadeh.

Extending the project to revitalise the area 

Today, ‘Fútbol y deporte’ is already a consolidated project in Navalmoral de la Mata. This is borne out by the numbers, with a real impact of more than 5,000 participants attended and a network of around 40 collaborating entities.

Being one of the winning initiatives in the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation Awards for Social Innovation 2023 gives them wings to think about the future and to be able to expand the initiative. ‘For us, it has been an award for the people we are targeting, who are the real protagonists of the project’, says Jaime Cortés. Now their next goal is to ‘reach other municipalities that do not have so many services in order to reach more people’. The intention is to collaborate with other town councils in the area and also to contribute to preventing depopulation in the region.