Future Hope is a charitable organisation, which provides opportunity through its homes, school and programmes for some of the most vulnerable children from the streets and slums of Kolkata, India. The SOL Foundation assists with the implementation of a sport programme, so Future Hope can run teams in rugby, rowing, football or cricket and provide access to other sports such as athletics, hockey, netball, volleyball or swimming; additionally, the support includes also Community Development – with the merger of Khelo Rugby and Future Hope, the sport programme has expanded exponentially and with it the impact has also benefitted.
Future Hope (2023)
India
2023-2026
In brief
Problem to be tackled
More than three million primary school children are out of school in India, sports help to encourage children to stay in school (Unesco Institute for statistics 2021), India accounts for 30% of all children living in extreme poverty (Unicef) – the Future Hope children receive medical care, nutritious regular meals and follow a healthy routine, with this they can enjoy and play sports which in turn helps them in school, 49% of the population of India live in slums (UN-Habitat 2020) – most of the children who live in slums do not have access to quality education or organised sport; many mothers talk to Future Hope about drug and alcohol abuse in their families and neighbourhood, Future Hope hears of terrible domestic violence and abuse, and see the damage in their humble abodes and hear desperation in their voices; this sets extremely bad examples for the children who easily fall into the wrong crowd; playing sports, role models and mentoring help the children to deal with these challenges and get an education and finally gender inequality – many girls from disadvantaged backgrounds are not allowed to play sports.
Local partner
The children Future Hope works with have no opportunity to play sports and avail of all its advantages. Future Hope wants to use the power of sport to support children from the most disadvantaged communities to grow up safely, with confidence, values, and skills and able to achieve their ambitions.
Future Hope is using sport to address a range of issues for children. India is a land of young people with great differences in opportunities. Future Hope focuses on children in some of the lowest social and economic circumstances in the city of Kolkata and in poor hard to reach rural communities. They are committed to giving these children the best possible opportunity – sport is an integral part of this. Sport is an anchor for educational opportunity. Sport can be a catalyst for positive behaviour. Sport can open more opportunities. The school, homes, community, and sports programmes are full of case studies of lives positively impacted by sports.
Beneficiaries
The Beneficiaries are Kolkata’s street children, 55% males, 45% females and five to 23 years old.
Future Hope has a clear outreach policy focussing on children at risk of severe abuse or neglect with every chance of losing their lives. The outreach team has first-hand experience with information gathered over three decades on where vulnerable children congregate, the risks they are subject to, the networks that control them and how Future Hope can offer these children security and opportunity. Future Hope takes the most vulnerable into the care of one of six homes, where they are safe and looked after.
SOL’s contribution
With a continued support from The SOL Foundation, Future Hope will be able to further extend and expand the existing annual school sport programme, helping the children recover from an unimaginable lack of opportunity; playing sport helps them learn teamwork, self-discipline, determination, and self-confidence, and in the process builds trust, they realise that they are as good as anyone else and should not feel inferior.
Annotation: the co-operation has started in 2016.
Project partner
Future Hope is a charitable organisation, established 1987, which provides opportunity through its homes, school, sports and medical programme for the most vulnerable children from the streets, slums, and red-light areas of Kolkata, India.
Future Hope addresses the individual needs of these children and helps them to become independent, self-supporting members of society. The Methodology outlines the distinctive contribution that Future Hope makes to give the children the best possible lives and opportunity.
