(10 March 2020) – On 19 February, AEIDL visited the MAAVi Foundation, which aims to promote the integration and cohesion of migrants within local communities, providing children with comprehensive support that has sport and teamwork values at its centre.
Since the 1980s, the southeast Spanish province of Almería has been home to the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, a sector which requires a large amount of foreign labour. It is in this context that the Kimitec Group, a group of innovative, natural agricultural companies, wanted to make a difference by creating the MAAVi Foundation.
A core activity of the foundation is the MAAVi Football Club, which helps children aged 4 to 16, commonly the most vulnerable group, to integrate culturally and socially.
The club was launched in 2019 with more than 200 girls and boys joining in its first year. It now has twice that number. By using the world’s most popular team sport as an engagement tool, MAAVi Foundation wants to promote the idea of living in an integrated community that does not exclude anyone based on their country of origin, race, sex, language or social status.