Taking it to the Streets
DEFENSORES DEL CHACO
Organizational Vision
Citizen Base Strategy
How It's Working
Lessons Learned
Defensores del Chaco (“Defenders of the Chaco,” a province located in northern Argentina) is a citizen sector organization based in Moreno, Argentina, a low-income community with more than 250,000 inhabitants located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The mission of the organization is to create a space for community members to interact, with the objective of reconstructing the social fabric of the neighborhood. At the heart of Defensores’ strategy is the development of young leaders—Defensores helps the community’s young people “transform their own reality” through participation in sports and art, forums that encourage teamwork and leadership while emphasizing tolerance, respect, and collective action. In conjunction with its athletic and cultural activities, the organization also provides a range of programs and services designed to promote health, provide legal counsel, and bring together diverse groups in the community.
The physical and spiritual center of Defensores del Chaco is a sprawling athletic complex that covers more than seven acres and features a professional soccer field with stadium lighting, changing rooms, and a gymnasium. In addition to its athletic facilities, Defensores also constructed a cultural center and operates a legal support office (CALC) in association with a legal rights organization based in Buenos Aires. The cultural center features a concert hall and a theatre that holds up to 250 people, and offers workshops and artistic performances throughout the year. The legal center provides free legal counsel to members of the community with a focus on ensuring that the residents of Moreno receive equal access to public services.
The physical transformation of the land where the athletic and cultural centers were built has come to symbolize the Defensores’ focus on community transformation: prior to creation of the center in 1994, the site was used by residents as a garbage dump. Today, 52 paid employees support the more than 1,500 young people who participate in the organization’s programs and activities. As a model of success, Defensores’ impact extends well beyond the limits of Moreno. The success of its programs has led Ferraro and his team to share Defensores’ innovative methodology with civil society organizations in other parts of Argentina and countries throughout South America.
Create a healthy and fun activity to attract disadvantaged youth
Forced to live on the streets at the age of nine, Ferraro points to strong mentors and organized sports as two of the most important factors that helped him to “break through the barriers” of his neighborhood and to escape the cycle of drugs, death, and violence that consumed so many of his peers. Reflecting on his own experience growing up in Moreno, Ferraro recognized sports as a tool with which he could help other neighborhood youths break through their own barriers and take charge of the course of their lives.
A product of this philosophy is Defensores’ Soccer for Tolerance League, a program that uses soccer as a tool to promote education and social development. The Soccer for Tolerance League has no referees and no set rules—players from both teams must agree upon rules before each match. At the end of a game, the teams come together to evaluate how well each team followed the rules and award points based on that evaluation. Accompanying the teams through the entire process is a “social mediator,” who encourages dialogue as a way to resolve conflicts and address stressful situations. This alternative form of soccer allows children and young adults to learn basic concepts of conflict prevention and conflict resolution, emphasizing strategies to settle disputes in a peaceful and respectful way.
In Argentina, there are now 20 organizations and more than 2,000 youths who participate in the Soccer for Tolerance League. Because of the league’s tremendous success, Defensores has spread the model to teams in Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia, bringing the number of participants to over 12,000. Representatives from this South American Street Soccer Network traveled to Berlin, Germany, in June of 2006 for the Street Football World Cup, an event that coincided with the FIFA World Cup held in Germany at the same time.
Develop a new generation of community leaders
Although Defensores del Chaco uses sports and art as mediums to bring together many different groups in the community, the organization’s primary concern is not that Moreno’s youths become high-paid athletes or world-renowned artists. Instead, Defensores uses these recreational activities as “hooks” to attract young people in order to provide them with leadership training and other important life skills. One of Defensores’ most successful programs, the School for Athletic and Cultural Coordinators, is designed to help young leaders within the organization exchange ideas, learn about the social situation in the area, and undertake joint activities and neighborhood campaigns that strengthen their communities. Students meet once a week for class and also conduct fieldwork in their respective neighborhoods, including workshops, speeches, and presentations. The school’s curriculum is divided into four areas: political action, culture and sports, community participation, and communication. Defensores also trains promising leaders from other local civil society organizations in its School for Coordinators. Participating organizations are responsible for selecting promising young people from their organizations who have demonstrated strong leadership potential, and the six-month course brings together a diverse group of young leaders who are expected to lead positive change in their communities.
In addition to in-class training, Defensores focuses on developing leaders “on the job” by placing them in positions of authority and responsibility. The organization’s governance structure is consistent with this goal: individuals must be 30 years old or younger to sit on the board of directors of the Defensores del Chaco Athletic Club, ensuring that young people “are responsible for all of the club’s athletic and artistic activities.” The current president of the club, Maxmiliano Pelayes, was 20 years old when he assumed the presidency, making him the youngest person ever to lead a Civil Society Organization in Argentina.
Focus on the human connections
To finance its various projects, Defensores del Chaco manages an annual cash budget of close to US$250,000. The largest source of funding is the business community, which provides close to US$80,000 each year. Contributors include multinationals such as Volkswagen, Fundación Telefónica, Nike, and Adidas, as well as local businesses such as the Argentine food manufacturer Arcor. Much of Defensores’ success with the business community can be traced to the time Ferraro spends managing and developing institutional relationships. He stresses, however, that the relationship with the person, not the corporation, matters most. Acc ording to Ferraro, interpersonal relationships he creates with business leaders oftentimes outlive transfer to new firms. Ferraro views this movement in the job market as a positive force for his organization, creating opportunities to develop new partnerships and alliances, without losing the old ones. Following the departure of a contact, Defensores’ “ambassadors,” as Ferraro refers to them, are able to facilitate new relationships within their former company.
Despite its successes in the business community, Defensores’ has not changed its organizational strategy to appeal to large corporate donors nor has it lost sight of its mission. In fact, Defensores is extremely selective when it comes to choosing its corporate ambassadors because Ferraro looks for a level of involvement that extends beyond financial support. According to Ferraro, “We won’t work with anyone who won’t come to see what we do…I won’t accept the check.”
- 52 paid employees support more than 1,500 young people who participate in Defensores’ programs. All of these youths attended school last year.
- Due to the shortage of public schools in Moreno, Defensores provided 900 scholarships for local students to attend private schools.
- 2,000 children and young adults participate in the Soccer League for Tolerance, representing 20 organizati ons from throughout Argentina.
- Defensores’ alternative soccer model has been replicated in seven South American countries, creating opportunities for more than 12,000 players.
- Defensores raises close to US$80,000 each year from the Argentine business community and manages an annual budget of US$250,000.
- Combine recreation with education and training. By using sports and art as a community-building and educational tool, Defensores attracts young people of all backgrounds, races, and religions.
- Provide real opportunities for youth leadership. Defensores is an organization created by young people for young people. Youths under the age of 30 are responsible for coordinating all of the organization’s athletic and artistic activities.
- Share successful strategies. Defensores has helped other organizations replicate its youth soccer model in countries throughout South America, and plans to have teams playing in all of South America within five years.
- Develop human connections. One of the keys to Defensores’ success in raising money from the business community is its focus on developing long-term relationships with people, not organizations.