Real Madrid Foundation projects in Côte d'Ivoire renewed with SED
More than 500 people in Bouaké and Korhogó are being helped using sport as a tool.
Emilio Butragueño, Director of Institutional Relations at Real Madrid, and Enrique Sánchez, Executive Vice-President of the Real Madrid Foundation, welcomed Luis Naranjo, Director of the NGO SED, to Real Madrid City to renew the collaboration between the two organisations in Côte d'Ivoire. The two social and sports schools that have been operating in this country have been reaching more than 500 children at risk of exclusion for the last eight years.
The Real Madrid Foundation's first social and sports school in Côte d'Ivoire was launched in 2015 in the city of Korhogó, at the Marcellin Champagnat school. After observing the huge positive impact among the young children, the improvement in their school performance and the fall in dropout rates, the activities were launched in Bouaké in 2017. Education in values through sport, characteristic of the Real Madrid Foundation's social intervention methodology, contributes to an improvement in the educational quality of the young participants and in the rest of their lives, also increasing their employment opportunities by reducing school dropout rates and illiteracy, which lead to begging, violence and dangerous habits.
Butragueño stated: "Among the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda to which the Real Madrid Foundation contributes, education, equality and health are the main ones. These schools in Côte d'Ivoire with SED are a clear example".
Luis Naranjo expressed his gratitude for this support and explained that "these schools seek to promote the integral development of boys and girls by harnessing the transformative power of sport because physical activity not only improves health and well-being but also instils values".