Freetown | 1st June 2023 | Vertex Media

Global football governing body FIFA, through the Football For Reform Initiative, will hand over a newly constructed Skills Training Workshop to the authorities of the Sierra Leone Female Correctional Service in Freetown. The ceremony will take place this afternoon at the Female Correctional Centre (Special Court Building), Brookfields, Freetown.

The project was initiated by FIFA Council Member Madam Isha Johansen and FIFA General Secretary Madam Fatma Samoura, following a visit 2 years ago by these female global football trailblazers.

Top Fifa and CAF representatives will grace the occasion in Freetown on Friday 2nd June, including Madam Fatu Camara from the Fifa African Regional Headquarters in Senegal, and Mr. Cedrick Aghey, Admin Finance and Legal Affairs – Office of the General Secretary of CAF.

MadamJohansen and Madam Samoura believed should be a tool for social change and it should transcend beyond every facets. This belief and their humanitarian gesture has led to the construction of this training facility, with additional support from FIFA.

Madam Johansen also incorporated the FASHION FOR CHANGE event as a component of the Football For Reform Initiative. The event, which was staged in late 2021, also raised funds which helped secured the release of 9 inmates and provided legal representation for inmates, among others, on International Women’s Day.

The official launch and handing over ceremony of the training centre will be graced by FIFA, CAF, SLFA, Sierra Leone Correctional Service, and the media.

The project is a Fifa and CAF collaboration. Fifa social solidarity completed the tailoring and skills workshop, and CAF will provide coaching and refereeing courses. Isha Johsnsen who currently sits on the Fifa Foundation Board as well as being a Fifa Council member has engaged the Fifa Foundation in plans to build a training football pitch for the correctional centre which will compliment the programs CAF will be laying out for the inmates.

Isha Johansen says “there is no denying the positive change that the power ofootballll can bring in a society when we use it to embrace humanity.”

Isha Johansen, FIFA Council member

The inmates will also be trained in other skills programs, including tailoring and handicrafts. The objective is to reform these inmates before they are integrated back into society after serving their jail term.