Belize football league wins regional social innovation contest

Medell?n, Colombia: A football league that motivates and commits its players, their families and communities with environmental protection in Belize won first place in the Experiences in Social Innovation contest organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) with support from the Kellogg Foundation.

"Its greatest innovation lies in its simplicity," said the spokesperson of the Committee of Notables, Nohra Rey de Marulanda, during the Award Ceremony at the Antioquia University in Medellin, Colombia.

Belize was awarded first place because the project "arises out of an inspiring and motivating idea -football tournaments-, and from there involves and commits the community to environmental protection. Moreover, its costs are low and the project is easy replicate, with good potential to be transformed into public policy," she added.

The "Freshwater Cup Environmental Football League" is a project of the Environmental NGO Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) carried out in a community in Punta Gorda, Toledo. Through a football championship, it teaches youths and children how to protect biodiversity in an area that is ecologically rich, but also fragile.