Youth's Dream of Gardasen Football Field Comes True

Gardasen, a rural community reliant on animal breeding and dairy production, often has been called the "Town of Elders" due to its isolation and lack of opportunities for young people. After school, children frequently ended up on the streets or at the uneven and rocky football field outside of town.

One mother said she forbade her three children to play at the dirt field because they often returned home cut up by the rocks. But if her children did not play there, they "usually ended up making trouble at home."

As part of the USAID-funded Iraq Consultative Service Delivery Program (CSDP), ACDI/VOCA staff held a community advisory group (CAG) meeting in Gardasen for citizens to voice their concerns and needs related to social issues and infrastructure. Many boys and girls showed up at the meeting, lobbying the group to pick a youth-oriented project. The CAG responded and chose to use the CSDP and Kurdistan Regional Government funds to build a neighborhood stadium for the area’s young people.

Construction of the small football stadium started in December 2010. Every day, children would come to the site to monitor the progress. Three months later, on March 17, 2011, the inaugural ceremony was held and the football stadium officially opened.

"At last our dream has come true," said one young person who attended the ceremony.

Now youth teams play at the stadium every day, paying a modest fee toward maintenance of the facility.

Pictured at left: Youth beneficiaries of Gardasen pose in front of their new mini-football stadium.