At NPAW, we believe we have a duty to generate a positive impact in the local communities where we operate and beyond. That’s why we closely collaborate with A.E. Ramassà, a global NGO and football club based in Les Franqueses del Vallés (Barcelona) that promotes social advancement through the beautiful game.
Playing for change
Ramassà isn’t your regular football club — it transcends the sport by using football as a tool for social transformation. We share a deep bond with Ramassà, bound by our proximity and our shared values of teamwork, commitment, innovation, and impact. With our support, Ramassà’s projects, both abroad and locally, are a testament to the positive change that sports can bring on an individual and community level.
In Africa, Ramassà organizes football matches against some of the region’s top teams, leveraging these events as opportunities to collaborate with local NGOs and associations. Their aim is to support projects that embody the club’s values. Among these initiatives are educational workshops for children, donations of sports and school equipment, and funding for the construction of educational and disaster-relief facilities.
For instance, in Cameroon, they’ve established an educational center and created a football school to foster community values. In Gambia, they’ve helped install a clean drinking water network to improve public health.
A team to call home
Closer to home, in Catalonia, Ramassà, in collaboration with the Barça Foundation, formed a women’s football team to welcome asylum seekers and refugees. Since its inception, the initiative has helped many female refugees integrate into Catalan society, providing them with a strong community to turn to and a sense of belonging amidst their new surroundings.
One of these women is Fereshteh Rafat, an independent journalist and women’s rights activist from Afghanistan who in 2021 fled to Spain to escape the Taliban. As a player in Ramassà’s refugee integration team, she has found a place of safety, community, and empowerment.
“Being in the Ramassà team helped me find my identity as a woman and rights activist. Having come to Spain with just a backpack and some documents, leaving all the things that I had behind, was so difficult for me,” says Ferseshteh. “For the first time in my life, I thought that I was nothing. I had lost myself, my personal confidence. When I wore the soccer clothes I found that I was something in this community.”
NPAW’s role
The lifeline of Ramassà comes from the continuous financial support of companies like NPAW, which has been backing Ramassà for the past two years.
“For us it’s important to be together, to be strong,” says Fereshteh. “We need these companies to continue our project. We need to be in this green ground and continue our fight to find solutions for our lives.”
Last year, Fereshteh visited our headquarters as a guest speaker in one of our company-wide monthly meetings. There, she shared her story with our employees, from when she had to flee her country to how Ramassà has helped her gain a footing in Barcelona.
“At NPAW, we support various causes that align with our values. In the case of Ramassà it was love at first sight,” says Ferran G. Vilaró, CEO and Co-Founder of NPAW. “The team is incredible, their cause is global. The Ramassà community is growing, with more people and companies onboarding the project.”
Partnering with Ramassà has allowed NPAW to extend its sphere of influence beyond the technology realm. We look forward to continuing our collaboration and helping create lasting societal change with football as a background.
“The future is simple to me,” says G. Vilaró. “It lies in expanding our footprint, our impact, and helping more people – especially refugees – have a better life in an honest, real, and direct way.”
