Topic: "Kick for Change"
Abhijeet Barse is responsible for the rapid scaling of Slum Soccer which has more than quadru-pled the organisation’s outreach in his tenure as CEO. He has established a pan India presence for the organisation by setting up offices and centres in the cities of Chennai, Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in addition to other centres in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Haryana Gujrat and Chhattisgarh.
Dr. Barse has revitalised Slum Soccer’s football based curriculum through effective engagement with a focus on women's empowerment, hygiene, nutrition and social inclusion. His vision has also led to the development of a comprehensive participant development path-way in the organisation that has helped streamline and focus activities. His strengths lie in overcoming challenges of limited resources and financial constraints to design and deliver high-quality, cost-effective and comprehensive football for development programs.
Dr. Barse was elected to the network board of streetfootballworld (Strategic Alliance Partner of FIFA) where he served for two years with distinction. He plans to replicate his work and learn-ing from that time to develop a network of like-minded organisations in India to promote the interdependence and integration of all members. He also plans to increase global participation in Slum Soccer's initiatives and towards that end he has organised events which have seen the participation of football legends like Dwight Yorke and Steve McMahon.
He is an accomplished public speaker and has delivered TEDx talks at Nagpur and VIT Vellore in addition to heading an expert’s panel at ‘Goal 2015’ and ‘ Goal 2019’- an international Conven-tion on Football Business organised by FICCI.
Dr. Barse is an International Ambassador for the National Children’s Football Alliance He is an Acumen Fellow (Class of 2014) and is the 2015 winner of the Game Changer Award conferred by the HR Club of Mumbai. He also completed Executive program for Non Profit leader at Stan-ford Business School in August 2015. His work also led to the organization being awarded FIFA Diversity Award in September 2016.