Diane grew up in the poor northeast of Brazil in a difficult family situation. And yet, she enjoyed a happy and exciting childhood. Her father had lost his two legs in an accident, but he inspired his daughter with his rich imagination and vitality. Dianes grandmother, who also cared for the girl,… Read more
Diane grew up in the poor northeast of Brazil in a difficult family situation. And yet, she enjoyed a happy and exciting childhood. Her father had lost his two legs in an accident, but he inspired his daughter with his rich imagination and vitality. Dianes grandmother, who also cared for the girl, was a midwife and percussionist, and educated Diane with great wisdom. They always supported and stimulated the young girl, and Diane experimented many moments of happiness and joy, of creativity and experiments. Those years laid the foundations of what Diane characterizes today. She is eager to learn, keen to experiment, self-confident and full of ideas.
She was first educated in a public school in her hometown São Bento in the State of Maranhão. For high school she received a scholarship, so she could attend a private school that offered her more activities. She was committed to music and joined a local orchestra. There, she became the first woman percussionist at the age of eleven years, and this was a special moment for her. Music was what she loved and lived for during those years. Her second love was soccer. Diane became a good player and even received offers to go to São Paulo or Germany and start a professional soccer career. However, this was not what Diane wanted. For her, soccer always was a social game, where she would meet her friends and enjoy some happy moments.
At the age of 13 Diane came into contact with the Instituto Formação, that is coordinated by the Ashoka Fellow Regina Cabral. Regina encouraged Diane to dream and to try to realize her dreams. That deeply impressed Diana and she kept volunteering and working at the Instituto Formação until today. From 2006 to 2010 Diane participated in the project CIP Young Citizen of the Instituto Formação, especially in the sports and arts activities. In 2010 she was chosen to participate in an exchange programme with the German NGO KickFair, that is a partner of the Instituto Formação. Diane went to Germany, participated in various activities in schools, and collaborated on the creation of the international network Football-Learning-Global. This network connects NGOs, schools and projects from all continents. Diane was responsible to raise funds for the network and for this aim she went to South Africa in 2010 and lobbied for the project during the soccer world championship. A year later she was invited to Germany by the German Heinrich Böll Foundation to talk about soccer and the emancipation of women.
With those rich experiences Diane had made, she was prepared to take on more responsibility at home. In 2011, when she was 19 years young, the Instituto Formação entrusted Diane to create, design and coordinate new projects. Her first project she created was the School of Imparting and Educational Sports. In the broader context of the school she realized various projects with differents NGOs from the Brazilian northeast region to set up spaces for sports that benefit schools and communities and have an inclusive effect on all participants. In those projects she could improve her methods to introduce sports activities to a society that is often characterized of shortages, underdevelopment and discrimination. The school was supported by UNICEF, and different NGOs connected in networks that foster soccer and street soccer.
One year later, Diane was given the opportunity to think about new projects and she created the Incubator of Sports and Citizenship that today combines all sports projects at the Instituto Formação. Diane is responsible for the elaboration, realization, management, dissemination and monitoring of the sports and leisure projects. She became a partner of UNICEF and realized various activities during the soccer world championship 2014 in Brazil, for example the ”International Festival Brazil 2014 – One game, one vision, one world“. In 2015 UNICEF invited Diane to Azerbaijan to advise on sports and the dissemination of the methods Diane had developed.
At the same time Diane didn’t rest to push ahead her own education. Her thirst of knowledge comes from the poor living conditions and the lack of opportunities Diane experiences in the Brazilian Northeast. She had learned to lend wings to her imagination and to look out for new horizons, and she also had learned to constantly improve her skills and abilities. In 2011 she enrolled at university to study Law and finished her studies in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree. In 2017 she finished an advanced training in Legal psychology.
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