The Cruzada por los Niños NGO team, which itself is a big part of CIS University’s social responsibility efforts, traveled together with a team from the Real Madrid Foundation on a follow up trip in support of projects that both organizations are jointly running at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique.
Cruzada por los Niños has had a meaningful presence in Mozambique for fifteen years, and has been running projects specifically in Gorongosa National Park since 2018. Currently, both organizations are working to improve the living conditions of a total of 920 people from 23 schools and 23 different villages in the area of the park.
The objective of the program is, through educational and socio-sports support projects, to prevent female school dropouts in those rural populations where girls leave their education prematurely.
As for the educational projects, the participants receive extracurricular support classes in:
- Portuguese language and literature (the country’s official language)
- Writing
- Mathematics
- Environmental issues
Additionally, participants take part in weekly social and sports training sessions utilizing the Real Madrid Foundation methodologies. This is a soccer program focused on women, which includes a total of 40 students. Of these, 30 are girls and 10 are boys.
The visit of representatives from Cruzda por los Niños and the Real Madrid Foundation coincided with the start of the soccer championship in one of the park’s communities.
Delegates from both organizations met with coaches and participants of the program, as well as some local family members. The women were even invited to go on a safari within Gorongosa National Park.
Ignacio Campo from Cruzada por los Niños highlighted the importance that this type of program has both for the Mozambican communities and for our university here in Spain:
“For us it is fundamental to have these types of programs to help raise awareness among our students. They become more aware of the significant needs that exist in other parts of the world. Furthermore, for those who benefit locally in Mozambique, these visits are of the greatest importance because they can help them get to know the people and the organizations that actively work together to help ensure them a brighter future,” said Campo.
