Aside from the numerous sports initiatives that took place on this occasion, the essence of the day lies at the heart of the social objectives they targeted. The same applies to another major event that is the current focus of media and world attention: the Football World Cup that has just kicked off in Brazil.

As our Champion for Peace Venuste Niyongabo demonstrated, sport - a truly universal language - rebuilds links between divided communities. It can also help countries in the midst of great transformations, like Brazil, to promote social cohesion through its intrinsic unifying qualities.

The organization of such an important event implies great responsibility. And the legacy program plays a major role in mobilizing this responsibility which, above and beyond the performances on the pitch, will make the event a real success. The World Cup represents an evolutionary phase in the host country, a step towards more sustainable social stability which can only truly take shape in the long term. Let us hope that it is this legacy which transcends the event itself, in the same way as the Rugby World Cup and the Olympic Games.

In this, sport constitutes a real investment for peace, not an expense.

And footballers themselves are proof of this same commitment and vision: on 11 May, the French National Union of Professional Football created a ‘Peace and Sport Trophy’ which will be awarded every year to a French footballer involved in an international charity or association, which perfectly illustrates this movement.

Peace and Sport Champions for Peace Christian Karembeu and Elias Figueroa, as well as Pedrag Pašić, are iconic players who put their image and popularity at the service of peace and dialogue through various initiatives that Peace and Sport encourages and supports.

In order to keep reiterating this message, the Peace and Sport team has evolved. With confidence and determination, I’m pleased to present its new structure to you, made up of enthusiastic actors for peace through sport.

Together, we continue to spread the message: sport is a vehicle for peace and a means to bring populations together. It plays a decisive role at the heart of society, as the examples which follow in this newsletter demonstrate.

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To do so, we always prioritize capacity building on the ground, and the exchange of experiences, over the proliferation and reach of our operations. In practice, these take the form of capacity-building workshops, the development of dynamic and adaptable tools (such as the Adapted Sport Manual) and close monitoring and on-going evaluation to help local actors use sport more effectively and tailor it to their projects, but also to become self-sufficient in the management of their operations.

Of course, a helping hand only goes so far, and these pilot programs must be innovative and sensitive to the environmental, economic and cultural realities on the ground. And at such an investment there comes a cost. This cost does not come from ad hoc humanitarian aid but from developing sustainable and self-sufficient projects.   

To help fund these programs, Peace and Sport is working to develop more and more partnerships for sporting events (New York Marathon, Nice-Cannes Marathon, triathlons, etc.) and other charity events (auctions and gala evenings, among others). The money raised is donated in its entirety to our field projects.