The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) today kicked off the ‘One Goal’ campaign along with partners World Vision, DSM, Global Alliance for Improving Nutrition (GAIN) and the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), as part of the AFC Awards.  Focused on providing nutrition for every child in Asia, by leveraging the power of and the passion for football in the region,  the ‘One Goal’ campaign will seek to tackle the poor nutritional practices and access that have been holding back Asia and Asian football.

FIFA Vice President and Co-Chair of the Open Goal board, HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein said, “The One Goal campaign is part of AFC’s long term social responsibility strategy.  We are glad that we are able to partner with global organisations like World Vision, DSM and GAIN to grow champions, both on and off the field in Asia.”

Asia is home to close to 578 million of the 1 billion malnourished people around the world.  Some 100 million of the 165 million children globally who are stunted – a condition where physical and intellectual growth is impaired due to chronic under-nutrition – are Asian. Stunting also exposes these same children to a higher likelihood of contracting non-communicable diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Simply put: poor nutritional practices place an enormous burden on Asia as a whole, diminishing the potential of individuals, societies and economies.

“The vision of the One Goal campaign is to unite a diverse range of audiences under the banner of football and serve them messages about good nutrition, especially for children,” said Trihadi Saptoadi, Regional Leader, World Vision – South Asia and Pacific Regiona, “We are looking to ignite a social movement that will transform child nutrition in the region, helping more children survive and thrive.”

The campaign will seek to transform child nutrition in the Asian region by engaging players, fans and football lovers to become ambassadors for good nutritional practices and engage and encourage governments to invest more in helping children to access nutritious foods so they can grow up to be champions – whatever they do.

“For children across Asia to eat, live and play right, we must ensure that their right to nutrition is recognized and defended – by us all,” said DSM’s Managing Board Member Stephan Tanda. “Together, the partners of One Goal are uniting to leverage their expertise, resources and reach so that we can tackle undernutrition – the root cause of stunting – head-on.”

“We commend AFC and partners  for their leadership in addressing a crisis which is harming so many of Asia’s children and young people. Sporting excellence and good nutrition go hand in hand, we want to unite to give every child the right start in life” said Marc Van Ameringen, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.

Maryann Hwee, President of Fringebacker, an Asia-focused crowd-funding platform said, “We are proud to be associated with One Goal. We have projects up that are supporting children who are malnourished at www.fringebacker.com/en/onegoal now with an initial goal of raising $50,000 to support nutrition clubs in Vietnam.”

“We invite football lovers all over Asia to come and be part of the One Goal campaign,” said HRH Prince Ali, “Visit us at onegoal.asia, learn more about the campaign and become part of transforming nutrition in Asia.”

(AFC Press Release & Picture)