Editorial by Joël Bouzou

Dear Friends, A look back over 2010 which is coming to an end proves to what extent sport has reached a stage of development and maturity that is unparalleled in its history.

Dear Friends,

A look back over 2010 which is coming to an end proves to what extent sport has reached a stage of development and maturity that is unparalleled in its history.

I am of course thinking about its increasing impact on economic development and the media. But above all I am referring to the recent - but nonetheless unquestionable – authority of sport in the sphere of politics; its capacity to redress the balance of power on the geopolitical chessboard and place new subjects on the global agenda.

Because sport is universal and federating, it is a catalyst for passion. But it is also far more than this. During recent visits to Haiti, South America, South-East Asia and the Great Lakes region in Africa, I was struck by the extent to which sport is truly considered as a strategic tool for public policies for national reconciliation and social cohesion. More than a means of support or a minor occupation, sport is the cornerstone for rebuilding a nation or a disaster-struck area.

What is true for inter-community and cross-border relations can also be true for diplomatic relations and major global issues. It is born out of our collective responsibility to use the benefits of sport as a tool to serve the biggest cause of all: creating a peaceful world.

These are the subjects that we will debate during the next Peace and Sport International Forum in Monaco, which will open in just a few weeks’ time. More than ever, this summit is necessary and useful to give actors the resources to be more efficient and to implement concerted policies that use sport as the key. Also and especially, to bring to the fore the influential impact of sport which make it deserve to be acknowledged as a powerful tool available to international decision-makers in constructing a better future.

Building sustainable peace is the best fight that sport can offer. And it’s a fight that we need to win. Together. In this perspective, I will be overjoyed to welcome you to the Principality of Monaco from 1 - 3 December.

Happy reading!

The 4th Peace and Sport International Forum: Official program unveiled!

From 1 – 3 December, the Peace and Sport International Forum will bring together in Principality of Monaco leading decision-makers from sport, politics, the private sector and civil society who wish to put sport at the service of sustainable peace.

The impressive line-up of speakers will include: Marathon legend Paula RADCLIFFE, President of SportAccord Hein VERBRUGGEN, President of the Haitian Olympic Committee Jean-Edouard BAKER, International Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip CRAVEN MBE, Triple World 800m Champion Wilson KIPKETER, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace Wilfried LEMKE, and many more! 

Resolutely orientated towards action, the Peace and Sport International Forum has a double objective:

• To be a political summit meeting that puts sport at the heart of the global agenda on peace;
• To bring tangible solutions to obstacles encountered by political decision-makers and stakeholders when implementing projects in the field.

The format of the 4th edition has been entirely redesigned in order to mobilize more actors and to increase coordination of actions. The new version will focus on three distinct activities:

• Plenary sessions led by prominent personalities and leading experts to encourage exchange of experience and different points of view on original themes.
• Training workshops dedicated to actors in the field, to reinforce their skills, give them operational tools and accelerate their projects.
• Formal and structured networking to facilitate interaction between delegates and initiate useful introductions.

Announcement of 15 nominees for the Peace and Sport Awards 2010

The 3rd Peace and Sport Awards Ceremony will take place in Monaco on 2 December in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Winners are chosen by the 10 members of the Peace and Sport Awards Jury.

On 2nd December, there will also be a presentation of the Award for the Peace and Sport Image of the Year, which this year following an Internet vote, will be given to Indian Rohan BOPANNA and Pakistani Aisam QURESHI, for their “Stop War, Start Tennis” campaign.

Peace and Sport warmly thanks the many individuals and organizations who submitted applications of such a very high standard.

Five-times World Champion Peter Karlsson launches a Table Tennis program for Peace in East Timor

Swedish table tennis legend and Champion for Peace Peter Karlsson visited Dili in October to launch the ‘Ping Pong Ba Dame’ program (Ping Pong for Peace), an initiative from the international organization Peace and Sport and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in partnership with 6 local NGOs, the Global Sports Development Foundation and Butterfly, the sports equipment manufacturer. Three days of friendship, fun and sport for peace.

Giving back pointers in life and peace-building through sport

For a 3-year period, "Ping Pong Ba Dame" has a mission to bring structure and benchmarks into the lives of 300 marginalized youngsters living in poor and violent neighbourhoods of Dili, the capital of East Timor.  The program’s 6 partner NGOs will each enable 50 children from 8 – 13 years old to play ping pong in a structured and supervised environment twice a week.

By teaching them the concentration necessary to play table tennis and to transmit values of tolerance, self-respect and non-violent confrontation to them, the joint  Peace and Sport-ITTF program will provide  education and social reintegration for these youngsters, who are often tempted to join street gangs.

In parallel, table tennis will be used as an educational vehicle to pass on messages about HIV / AIDS prevention, environmental protection, gender equality, democracy and respect for the rules of citizenship.

Three days of games and coaching with Peter Karlsson

From 20 - 22 October, a Ping Pong Ba Dame centre was opened in each of the 6 partner NGOs in the presence of a truly outstanding world champion of table tennis: Peter Karlsson.

Peter Karlsson is a "Champion for Peace", the name given to a group of international athletes committed to serve peace in the world through sport, an initiative created by Peace and Sport. He has one of the best ever records as a world table tennis champion: four times World Champion in team events, World Champion in men’s doubles, five-times European Champion in team events, European Champion in men’s singles.

Over 2,000 people from vulnerable communities in Dili came to the launches as well as many well-known figures from local and international institutions involved in the stability process in East Timor, notably representatives from the Prime Minister’s office, the Secretary of State for Sport, the UN Integrated Mission in Timor (UNMIT), UNICEF and the UN Development Program (UNDP).

In the run up to these 3 days, 12 Timorese educators (2 from each partner NGO) benefited from top level training by ITTF and Peace and Sport.

Peter Karlsson led a training session at the end of the launch events to bring together all the youngsters who took part in the NGO program based on the values of sport. Under the champion’s guidance, friendly matches were organized around the theme of confidence: confidence in oneself and in others.

Joel Bouzou declared: ‘The presence of such a great champion as Peter at the launch of Ping Pong Ba Dame is crucial to the program’s success. He knows how to communicate his passion for table tennis to children and show them all that this sport has brought him on a personal level. This is the best source of inspiration you could ever dream of for these kids who need role models and new benchmarks in life."

Success through cooperation

The success of this program launch is largely due to the close cooperation between Peace and Sport, ITTF, local NGOs and Timorese authorities over the last few months.

Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, explains: “The objective of Ping Pong Ba Dame is to bring cohesion and dialogue into Timorese society: two essential ingredients for sustainable peace in a country ravaged by years of civil war and in the grip of endemic violence amongst youth. By associating their respective political and operational expertise, and with the support of Timorese authorities, I hope that Peace and Sport and ITTF will help to bring new horizons to this country This is the very essence of our action: bringing together stakeholders from the world of sport and actors for peace and stability, in order to contribute to the common good.”

Adham Sharara, ITTF President added: "Beyond the sporting values related to the game itself, table tennis can also play a role in civic education, socialization and citizenship. We are extremely pleased to contribute to this program that will change the lives of hundreds of young people in vulnerable situations in Dili. Taking part in this kind of operation also enables us to develop our sport in new areas and to reach new audiences."

Over the next three years the Timorese Table Tennis Federation will work very closely with the NGOs involved in order to lead the “Ping Pong Ba Dame”. This program is intended to be a pilot project for the National Federation which could eventually expand into a national program to put table tennis at the service of peace.

Peace and Sport, the ITTF and Butterfly also have a similar program called "Ping Pong Paz" in Colombia, with support from the NGO Colombianitos.

Peace and Sport steps up its action in the Great Lakes Region in Africa

As an extension of their action in Burundi Peace and Sport in partnership with the International Modern Pentathlon Union will support peace-promotion and peace-building activities through sport in the Democratic Republic of Congo to foster trans-border dialogue and restore confidence. This was announced at the end of Joël Bouzou’s official visit to the DRC last October.

On 16 and 17 October the Great Lakes region in Africa provided the stage for two major peace-promotion through sport events under the patronage of Peace and Sport.  The very first Friendship Games between Burundi and DRC, and the first Biathle Championships in the Uvira region in South-Kivu (DRC) organized with the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM).

Success and Passion
Over 2,000 enthusiastic people watched the trans-border games, whilst 200 young Congolese participated in the Biathle Championship the next day. A remarkable success for these events aimed at promoting peace and calming inter-ethnic tensions in a region that is hard hit by the aftermath of conflict over the past twenty years.

Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, himself a Modern Pentathlon Olympic Champion, was present at these two pioneering events.  He explained: Despite the official end of fighting in 2002, the population in this region, particularly young people, continue to suffer violence from armed gangs and to maintain inter-ethnic distrust provoked by poverty. The Friendship Games and the Biathle Championship, whose neutral status is endorsed by Peace and Sport, enable these divided communities to come together around a common passion for sport, to cultivate dialogue and create conditions necessary for sustainable peace.  The passion that I see in the eyes of these youngsters is quite simply incredible!”

Long-term Action

The two events for peace-promotion are a manifestation of Peace and Sport’s long-term commitment to the Great Lakes region in Africa.

Since 2008, organization of the events has been planned along with the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture and the National Olympic Committee in Burundi as part of an extensive peace-building program which uses sport to encourage the process of national unity and ethnic reconciliation.

In future, this regional involvement will expand to the DRC. During and audience between H.E. M. Claude Nyamugabo, Minister of Youth and Sport in the DRC and Joël Bouzou, it was decided that Peace and Sport would help the Congolese government to put a public policy for peace through sport into place.

Biathle as a tool for supervision

Peace and Sport and UIPM will notably help the newly-created Congolese Federation of Modern Pentathlon to organize activities to enable vulnerable young people to continue to practice Biathle in a structured and supervised environment throughout the year.

A meeting with Léonard Ngoy Lulu, Conseiller Principal Advisor to the President of the DRC and Henri Yav Mulang, Vice-President of the Head of State’s Cabinet responsible for economic issues and reconstruction confirmed that public authorities are very interested in sport and wish to use it for the service of peace in the country.

After these meetings Joël Bouzou declared:  Each time I visit this region, I am struck by the immense appetite of people, particularly young people, for sport. It constitutes an unparalleled social link and an irreplaceable vehicle for dialogue. But I am also delighted to observe that the DRC government, in the same way as Burundi’s government, considers it as an indispensable strategic tool to support public policy for national reconciliation. I am proud that Peace and Sport, due to its neutral status, is able to be the partner helping these two countries in the long and important peace process. I hope that sport will have a profound impact in contributing to re-establish stability throughout the Great Lakes region.”

Dr. H.C. Klaus Schormann, President of the UIPM, added: Biathle is a very attractive and accessible sport.  It upholds values of self-control, effort and respect for the environment that are also structuring principles for life. It is also particularly popular and inexpensive and can be practiced without expensive facilities, or even any personal equipment and it is therefore easy to implement in the most deprived areas. I am happy that it is contributing to sustainable peace-building in the Democratic Republic of Congo, thanks to Peace and Sport's support, and that, through this orientation, our discipline can be developed on the African continent.

Peace and Sport will soon make an operational visit to DRC to analyse the situation, determine priority needs, identify partners and define the method for implementing future programs.

For more information on the DRC/Burundi Friendship Games, click here.
For more information on the 1st Biathle Championship, click here.

If you would like more information about Peace and Sport, please contact us:
Tel  : + 377. 9797.7800
Fax : + 377 . 9797. 1891

E-mail: contact@peace-sport.org - Web site: www.peace-sport.org