The partnership between the FC Barcelona Foundation and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR/ACNUR) has been listed among the world’s top 20 Most Influential Projects, which represent transformative initiatives that advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This accolade was awarded at a recent summit organised in New York by the Project Management Institute (PMI), a leading authority in project management training. In the case of the FC Barcelona Foundation, the PMI emphasized the fact that its partnership with the UNHCR/ACNUR demonstrated the power of sport to effectively drive social change.
On 16 June 2022, FC Barcelona and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR/ACNUR) signed a historic agreement in Geneva to feature a new charitable logo, that of the UNHCR/ACNUR, on the club's first-team football shirts to promote the cause of refugees and displaced persons. The alliance aims to raise awareness among football fans around the world about the real challenges faced by refugees. In partnership with the UNHCR/ACNUR, the FC Barcelona Foundation also provides support to financial and technical projects that work to help improve the lives of refugee children and young people, promoting education, health and equal opportunities, with a particular focus on gender equity and diversity, in countries such as Uganda, Colombia, El Salvador, Türkiye and Malaysia.
The PMI used a two-pronged approach to compile its list of Most Influential Projects, which initially involved surveying its global community of experts, volunteers, academics and industry leaders and requesting their nominations. The hundreds of projects were then rigorously evaluated to rate them according to criteria, such as alignment with the relevant UN SDGs, nomination timeframes and audience values, among others, before the list was further narrowed down to the final 20 through the application of journalistic principles - to ensure that each project was suitably aligned with the missions of the PMI and Most Influential Projects.
