Colombianitos: A Winning Management Model for Sustaining, Scaling and Replicating Social Change through Sport? Michael Pedersen
November 28, 2013
Across sports and nations, sport federations often support or manage admirable projects that evolve around creating social change for underprivileged children through educational approaches to doing sport. Yet, some projects are more successful than others in sustaining, scaling and replicating impact. The critical management challenge seems to be getting the funding model right.
This eighth contribution of mine for iSportconnect’s expert column on sport governance offers perspectives on the case of Colombianitos, a foundation in Colombia that engages underprivileged children in doing football, badminton, table tennis, dance and other sports and activities as a vehicle for generating social change. The contribution especially focuses on management practices that enable Colombianitos to sustainably fund its efforts to scale and replicate impact. The contribution also offers some challenging questions for sport leaders to consider, as they start the process of modernizing their ‘sport in society’ governance standards for the future.
My ninth contribution is going to be published in the middle of December. It will offer perspectives on the case of The Netherlands Olympic Committee and Sport Confederation with a focus on ways to financially motivate good governance in national sport federations.
Ensuring adequate and sustainable funding is a critical management challenge
I regularly visit and support projects that evolve around creating social change for underprivileged children through educational approaches to doing sport. When doing so, I often hear the leadership of such projects say that their most critical management challenge is ensuring adequate and sustainable funding.
As opposed to trying to reinvent the wheel, which seems the approach applied in too many projects, the best way to address the challenge is to spot and learn from evolving good management practices in other similar projects. Pursuing such an approach can indeed be easier said than done in a situation, where a project finds itself in a vicious circle of short-termism and ‘survival mode’. However, getting the funding model right is the only effective foundation for sustaining, replicating and scaling impact.
A brief introduction to Colombianitos and its ever-growing impact
Colombianitos is a foundation in Colombia. It works to bring about new hope for a better future to children, who are victims of armed conflict and forced displacement. Based on the ‘Right To Play’ methodology, educational sport is at the heart of Colombianitos’ approach to generating social change. The foundation’s programs in football, badminton, table tennis, dance and other sports and activities aim at motivating children to acquire an education and build strong values and life skills, while helping them elude the dangers of impoverished urban slums. Ultimately, Colombianitos’ programs help transform highly disadvantaged communities in Colombia into social environments that support and reinforce positive lifestyles.
The ever-growing impact of Colombianitos is impressive and remarkable. Over the course of the last 12 years, the foundation has proved able to substantially scale and replicate what started out as one point of operation in Bogota with approx. 500 children. Today, Colombianitos has six points of operation throughout Colombia with a total of approx. 4,000 children.
While Colombianitos works nationally in Colombia, the foundation has an international perspective too. It is a member of the umbrella organization Streetfootballworld. Colombianitos also attracts board members and funding from abroad.
The foundation for Colombianitos’ success is its proven ability to generate adequate and sustainable funding
Unlike many of its peers across sports and nations, Colombianitos has proven very successful in generating adequate funding. Not just to sustainably run its operations, but also to substantially scale and replicate its impact throughout Colombia. Particularly noteworthy practices include the foundation’s extensive visibility on the Internet and its pool of diversified sources of funding.
Colombianitos is indeed very visible on the Internet. First of all, the foundation makes comprehensive information available on its website, in English as well as in Spanish. According to Colombianitos, especially current and prospective sponsors appreciate that the foundation makes available governance related information such as annual reports. It creates trust and assurance that their money is spent as intended.
At the same time, Colombianitos utilizes social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. With currently 2,100 ‘likes’, Facebook seems a particularly important platform. That is also the case for YouTube, inasmuch as it serves as the platform for communicating impact through video testimonials. In these video testimonials, children provide self-assessments on how their engagement in Colombianitos has changed their lives.
For further information, see: