April 3 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has launched one of its key social responsibility initiatives, the AFC Village, in Tacloban, the Philippines, which provides new homes to families who were left homeless by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
The first two-day AFC legacy programme took place in Tacloban at the weekend, organised by the AFC, the Philippines Football Federation (PFF), local football club Leyte Football Association (FA) and local NGO Gawad Kalinga. A workshop and seminar for local football coaches in focused on how football activities can be used as a tool for social development.
Brian Suskiwicz from Coaches Across Continents, the AFC’s latest social responsibility partner, led the seminars.
The AFC Village was actually inaugurated in 2015. It was built on seven acres of land in Palo and comprises 27 houses and a grassroots football pitch.
As well as support and education the AFC has provided ten laptops to be used by people living in the village as well football equipment.
The land was generously donated by Ramon Pedrosa and his family who comes from the region. The Palo local government ensured land and legal clearances.
The AFC Village has become a landmark in Palo. With strategic community planning and with the support of Palo local government, the village has grown to become an iconic place for the local residents, with plenty of social development activities, including grassroots football organised by Leyte FA.
AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said: “I am very proud of what the AFC together with the project partners has achieved. The AFC Village brings to life the power of football, helping people in need. This is when the world’s number one sport really is the beautiful game.”
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