United Way Partners with The Asian Football Confederation to Improve Education, Health in Asia

ALEXANDRIA, VA (January 18, 2018) - United Way Worldwide and The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) today jointly announced an agreement to advance the education and health of children and young people throughout Asia. The partnership will proceed under the auspices of the AFC Dream Asia Foundation.

The signing ceremony took place on January 18, 2018 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur. Speaking at the ceremony, United Way Worldwide International President Mr. Jose Ferrao said: “Creating stronger communities is a team sport. United Way is proud to build on the success of our 45-year partnership with the National Football League (NFL) in the United States to work with the AFC and its 47 Member Associations across the region to improve the education and health of our next generations,”

“Education and health are essential building blocks for societies and individuals to thrive. The AFC is delighted to partner with United Way Worldwide to further these goals through football across Asia. Football is a powerful tool for social development and it can make a real difference in lives across the world,” said AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John.

United Way Worldwide and the AFC have a common interest in improving education, work skills and health for children and youth in countries and regions in Asia. Under the cooperation agreement, United Way Worldwide and the AFC will work to connect local representatives and AFC Member Associations to explore ways to improve education and health outcomes.

The goals of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are to improve:

• early childhood development and reading skills of children
• school success and youth transition to secondary education of disadvantaged youth
• skills development and training that can lead to meaningful employment for youth
• physical and mental wellbeing of children and youth

The partners will do this by:

• identifying countries and regions for potential collaboration
• identifying education issues for potential partnerships
• connecting United Way Worldwide partner organisations and AFC Member Associations to explore potential partnerships
• coordinating communications around the MoU and country-level partnerships
• monitoring progress of partnership discussions on a quarterly basis

 

About United Way Worldwide

United Way fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community. Supported by 2.9 million volunteers, 9.8 million donors worldwide and $4.7 billion raised every year, United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit. We’re engaged in 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories worldwide to create sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our communities. United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, government, civic and faith-based organizations, along with educators, labor leaders, health providers, senior citizens, students and more. For more information about United Way, please visit UnitedWay.org. Follow us on Twitter: @UnitedWay and #LiveUnited

 

About AFC Dream Asia Foundation

Under the banner of One Asia, One Goal, the AFC has set a clear Vision and Mission to undertake effective social responsibility campaigns in five strategic focus areas: children and youth, integrity and education, social inclusion, health and humanitarian relief. 

Launched by the AFC President in March 2017, the AFC Dream Asia Foundation was introduced as a way of providing efficient, effective and transparent aid to deserving communities across Asia. The AFC is already working on social responsibility projects in various parts of Asia, including typhoon-hit Tacloban in the Philippines and the earthquake-hit regions of Japan and Nepal. This work, along with new partnerships with UNHCR, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and other leading agencies will be included under the umbrella of the Foundation.