POSTED: April 9th 2009
NewsUpdate
Q&A: Joel Bouzou on Peace and Sport growth
LONDON/TAMPA: Joel Bouzou, the president and founder of Peace and Sport, has talked exclusively to SportsFeatures.com about recent events and plans for the ongoing year.
What are your most important upcoming projects?
We are focusing our energy on two priority projects right now.
The first project is to consolidate and expand our locally-based rrojects. During the global convention Sportaccord, in Denver last month, we signed partnership agreements with three international federations, namely the International Table Tennis Federation, the International Rugby Board and the World Chess Federation.
We are now working on developing and implementing these partnerships.
The International Federations will provide support, technical resources, personnel and expertise to aid concrete action for the social integration of thousands of young people in distress.
This means that from now on, thousands of children involved in Peace and Sport’s projects in Colombia, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Israel-Palestine and Timor L'Este will be able to learn and play chess, rugby and tennis table.
We cannot implement all sports in all regions at the same time. Therefore we first need to work on pilot projects in specific zones, with the support of national federations, local stakeholders and governments. We are looking at providing equipment, training and transferring skills to local communities, so that our projects are sustainable.
Two other very important players joined the Peace and Sport Family during Sportaccord: the International University Sports Federation and the International Military Sports Council. In conjunction with these two partners, we are developing peace-promotion and peace-building projects, which make use of our respective skills.
What is the second project?
Our second new exciting project is to set up a resource centre this year. This tool is intended to be an extension of the networking platform initiated by the Peace and Sport International Forum. It will enable all actors for peace and sport to identify their expectations and needs, to offer their skills and resources, and to showcase and share their Best Practices and make them accessible to key stakeholders, so that they can be duplicated.
The aim of the resource centre is to create a non-stop 24/7 Peace and Sport Forum, to increase the coordination and sustainability of programmes and set up a kind of ‘match-making’ service for identifying potential partners.
I encourage everyone who wants to make a difference to get involved in this initiative and complete the online questionnaire on our website peace-sport.org.
What were your greatest successes of the year?
Over the last 12 months, Peace and Sport has had several very important developments.
The second Peace and Sport International Forum assembled more than 300 well-known figures and experts with the objective of putting sport at the service of sustainable peace throughout the world.
This exceptional attendance rate (almost double the first edition in 2007) shows that the Peace and Sport family is fully mobilized to work together as a team to increase information exchange and share best practices.
It is also further evidence that the event, thanks to its neutral stance, has emerged as a coveted meeting place for senior policy makers who define, support and implement peace through sports policies - a triumph for everyone who is part of this platform.
The first Peace and Sport Awards Ceremony was also a great success. The awards raised awareness about the added value of sport as a peace-promotion tool in a number of countries, especially in Armenia and Turkey, two countries which received the award for the Best Peace and Sport Image of the year. The amazing media coverage about this prize contributed to bring the two communities closer.
The year also saw Peace and Sport recognized by major international organisations such as the Council of Europe, which asked us to join its advisory board. This recognition is very good news as our purpose is to encourage cooperation between political players acting for peace and social cohesion and sport governing bodies.
Last but not least, we are very proud of the successful unfolding of our locally-based projects. In Cote d’Ivoire, we helped the National Judo Federation to transform a disused warehouse into a brand new sports centre. Hundreds of children now go there every day to learn judo, find a structure for life and integrate into society.
In Burundi, in partnership with the NOC and the national federations, we provided equipment and professional training for 10 coaches who supervise thousands of war orphans and street children in community youth centres. These kids now have multi-discipline sports centres to practice athletics, volleyball and football.
In Timor-Leste, we organised a sports festival during the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games to spread the Olympic spirit and promote peace to young generations. More than 2,000 children with their families attended.
These first successes encourage us to continue our journey.
What are your plans together with CISM?
The CISM already develop excellent programs whereby armed forces based in post-conflict zones use sport to promote contact and joint activities between local divided communities. These activities strengthen the sometimes chaotic peace process.
Together with CISM, Peace and Sport will develop joint peace-building operations for the thousands of demobilized child soldiers living in the Great Lakes Region in Africa.
It is a very sensitive area where a regional approach is needed to educate people to peace. We will support the governments in their attempt to reintegrate these traumatized kids into civil society. Sport is a great help in this process.
Will the Forum go ahead as usual or do you have any additions to the programme in view of recent successes?
We are already working hard on planning and preparing the Third Peace and Sport International Forum. It will take place from November 25-27 in Monaco, under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert II.
Following last year’s success – when the Forum assembled more than 300 high-profile decision-makers and stakeholders - we have entirely revised the format of the event, to make it more interactive and adapted to productive meetings and partnerships.
There will be fewer plenary sessions and more operational workshops where delegates will be able to share experiences, present best practices, seek support and find new partners.
What do you see as the most exciting challenges on the horizon?
One of Peace and Sport’s main objectives is to encourage the international sports movement to make a contribution to peace.
Many actors for sport, especially International Federations, already play an effective and active social role; but there is still room for improvement.
Specifically, we would like to encourage international federations to use the prominence of their international sporting events to educate their audience about the place of sport in the peace process.
Can you imagine the impact on the African continent - and throughout the entire world - of a symbolic moment for peace during the next Football World Cup in South Africa?
There are many major sporting events of this kind taking place over the next few months. Our challenge is to invite as many event organizers as possible to incorporate initiatives for peace-promotion into their programmes.
It is through this kind of initiative that we will contribute – all of us- to create lasting peace. By educating young generations, teaching them values, teaching them peace.
Keywords · Peace and Sport · Joel Bouzou · Prince Albert of Monaco · International Table Tennis Federation · International Rugby Board · World Chess Federation · CISM
For more information contact:
Laura Walden ()
All original materials contained in this section are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Sports Features Communications, Inc the owner of that content. It is prohibited to alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
