Key figures:

• 4,670 children benefit from the activities, 50% of whom are girls;
• 190 peace educators trained in the Peace and Sport Methodology lead weekly activities, 30% of whom are girls;
• The Peace and Sport Methodology is used in 43 schools in 4 countries;
• The e-learning trainings for peace educators have been finalized and 8 organizations have started the implementation phase of activities;
• More than 75 ready-to-use sessions with more than 300 exercises in two sports (football and rugby) are available on the Peace and Sport by MyCoach mobile application.

The partners:

• 10 partner field organizations:

1. Terres en Mêlées Burkina Faso: “Alafia” Program, Burkina Faso
2. Burundi NOC and Kamenge Youth Center: “Peacemakers – Burundi” program, Bujumbura, Burundi
3. COP Colombia International: “Peacemakers – Colombia” program, Usmé, Colombia
4. All Black FC: “Peacemakers – Hong Kong” program, Hong Kong
5. Naandi Foundation: Game-Changer Program – Jambusar, India
6. APJS: “Peacemakers – Mali” program, Bamako, Mali
7. Tibu Africa: “Girls CAN” program, Casablanca, Morocco
8. RFI Lusenda clubs: Lusenda, DR of Congo
9. AKWOS: “Peacemakers – Rwanda” program, Kigali, Rwanda
10. Terres-en-Mêlées Togo: “Alafia” Program, Lomé, Togo

• Official partners: MyCoach, Danone Nations Cup.
• Other partners: Rudy’s Kid Foundation.

This month, the Peacemakers Project will celebrate its first anniversary. Built on a “bottom-up” approach, the Peacemakers Project is based on the support of 10 grassroots organizations spread over 3 continents that work daily to promote inclusion and peace through sport.

After 12 months of implementation, more than 4,000 children have benefited from more than 75 ready-to-use peace-through-sport sessions delivered by 190 peace facilitators trained in the Peace and Sport Methodology in Burkina Faso, in Togo, Colombia, India, Mali, Morocco, Burundi and Rwanda.

In 4 African countries, in Togo, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Mali, the pilot system has even been deployed in school and extracurricular activities, which constitutes an opportunity for scaling up.

Capacity-building and institutional meetings

E-learning training, capacity-building sessions with peace educators in the field and institutional meetings have helped support the development of activities and deepen the partnership with the partner organizations of the Peacemakers Project.

The Friendship Games organized by the NGO COP Colombia were an opportunity to bring together 300 young people from Medellin and Bogota and to strengthen the organization’s links with local institutions such as the Ministry of Sports, the municipalities of Bogota and Usmé, the Institute of Recreation and Sports (IDRD), and the Bolivar Davivienda Foundation.

In Burundi, nearly 180 children are being monitored each week by Peace and Sport teams and by the Champion for Peace and unique Olympic Champion of Burundi, Venuste Niyongabo. Role-model and source of inspiration for young people, Venuste has led training sessions for peace animators, met beneficiaries at the Kamenge Youth Center and presented the program to national and international institutions, notably during an Olympians General Assembly organized by the World Olympians Association in Cairo.

Launched in October 2021 in 4 schools in Kigali, the Peacemakers Project in Rwanda, implemented by the AKWOS organization, received a visit from Caroline Boury, co-designer of the Peace and Sport Methodology. The visit aimed at developing the existing contents and the practice of a third sport.

In Morocco, 36 female coaches (18-25 years old in a NEET situation) from the Girls CAN program launched by Tibu Africa were trained in the Peace and Sport Methodology by ASM Women’s Football player, Salma Zeitouni. The program supports the debate on the promotion of sport as a tool capable of promoting equity and the empowerment of more than 200 young girls and women.

Evaluation of the impact of field programs

While the measurement of impact is an increasingly decisive criterion for project donors, Peace and Sport and the Institute of Political Social Sciences of the University of Paris-Nanterre have decided to join forces to evaluate the social impact of sport at the community level.

Thus, since March 2022, an ambitious work of evaluation of the ALAFIA program of Terres en Mêlées in Togo and Burkina Faso has been carried out with teachers-researchers and trainees from Lomé. The first observations of this research project will be presented at the International Peace and Sport Forum before new territories integrate the study, to demonstrate the tangible impact of peace-through-sport programs on the ground and to convince decision-makers about the effectiveness of peace-through-sport programs.

About the Peace and Sport by MyCoach mobile application

Peace and Sport by My Coach is an application through which peace-through-sport educators teach a method using the structuring values ​​of sport to build peace.

Through the Mobile App, educators can easily access the Peace and Sport Methodology no matter where they are or what program they are working on. Educators benefit from a reliable, modern and easy-to-use method that fits into their work cycle and is constantly updated with new content.

Last March, the Peace and Sport by MyCoach mobile application won the “Sport and Innovation” prize at the Sport Impact Awards ceremony in Dakar, Senegal.