April 5, 2023 – WPDI’s experience as a promoter of sustainable development and peacebuilding has led us to experiment with a plethora of different avenues for reaching young people and empowering them as active agents of positive change in their communities. This journey led us to develop our Peace Through Sports program, an initiative designed to tap into the fundamental appeal of sports as a driver of health and wellbeing, education and culture, human interaction and community cohesion. When designed as educational opportunities, sporting activities sensitize participants to the values of dignity and mutual respect teaching them that following rules in a spirit of fair play can create a positive atmosphere of emulation – thereby contributing to the dissemination a culture of peace and nonviolence in a country that has known conflict for too long.
Building on the success of our 2022 program in Budi County, WPDI was delighted to launch a new two-year Peace Through Sports initiative in several locations across South Sudan, including Maridi, Torit and Budi and Juba, Central Equatoria State, in partnership with the Swedish Postcode Lottery.
For young people affected by war, poverty or gang violence, sport is an opportunity to practice healthy and entertaining activities while learning to interact with others, including opponents, in a spirit of fair play. It provides a space for growth and wellbeing, the nurturing of a sense of belonging, and a healing, holistic environment for personal and social development. Building on this, the Peace Through Sports program combines a full-fledged sports program, including competitions, with dedicated awareness and educational activities on conflict resolution and human rights that constitutes its peacebuilding dimension. In addition, participants in the program will be invited to join other activities of WPDI, notably those offered at the CLC, which comprise vocational training programs in ICT and Entrepreneurship, as well as programs on trauma healing or Sexual and Reproductive Health.
In a first step, WPDI will re-deploy the Peace Through Sports in the Juba Camp for the Protection of Civilian (POC) number 3 after a period of interruption caused by the COVID crisis. This camp, which has been hosting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) since the beginning of the civil war, is where we first piloted the Peace Through Sports program, after our CEO, Forest Whitaker, had visited the camp and measured the need of young people for constructive and educational activities. In this renewed form, the program will include 12 football teams, 6 male and 6 female, with each team comprising 17 members aged 20 years and below.
A very popular program, the launch of Peace Through Sports at the POC 3 had immediately sparked the interest of many stakeholders, many of which have agreed to collaborate with WPDI to ensure its success, including the South Sudan Football Association, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports, Juba City Council and Juba County. Expressing the general mood among these partners, the Central Equatoria State Minister for General Education, Hon. Cirisio Zacharia declared: “I am extremely happy that you are also including the Internally Displaced Persons in this project. The IDPs are really going to smile because of this great support. I am talking like this because I was a footballer and I understand the values of sports.”
Robert Zacharia, who spoke on behalf of South Sudanese Football Association, expressed his gratitude and thanks to WPDI for working closely with the association and promised increased collaboration with the organization to ensure that the new project is implemented smoothly, including through the provision of training programs for our trainers and referees. He noted that this project would instill in its participants a spirit of discipline, respect, love and peace which is vital for a positive transformation in the world’s youngest nation. He especially encouraged young girls to be more engaged in sports and education for better health, social cohesion and holistic growth. This is a call that is not lost on WPDI, as we will make it our priority to ensure that girls and adolescent women have opportunities to grow and shine through this program. In this endeavor, we will undoubtedly build on past successes of Peace Through Sports, since one of our former youths, Esther Kide, whom we had trained in Uganda, where she was a refugee, is now part of the South Sudanese national football team (see below).
Testimonial from Esther Kide, young female football coach and player for the South Sudanese National Women’s Team
“I am Esther Kide, a footballer and a student at the University. I come from an extended family, so it can be difficult for our parents to be able to afford the cost of education and other bills because of the size of our family. When I joined WPDI’s sports activities in Uganda [Esther was a refugee in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement], I learned sporting skills, how to dribble, how to score and how to live a peaceful life.
When I came back to South Sudan, I was quickly spotted and registered in the local football clubs and eventually into the national team, where I was given the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda, Algeria and other countries to represent my country. I made some money to pay for tuition fees. I have only one semester left to complete my studies.
I would like to encourage young girls that sports can teach you a lot, and gives you the opportunity to experience lots of different places. Our body is healthy and flexible. There are challenges that we face as girls, because most of our parents believe that football is for men not for women. That’s why most of the talented girls are forced into marriage, others drop out of school because of school fees, and many think that girls who play football won’t be able to reproduce.
Our request as female footballers is that we need support and exposure to the world and to other football teams outside, because when they see me and others traveling, our parents begin to get the sense that what we are doing has associated benefits. It will also give the rest of the girls encouragement to work hard and be an inspiration for them. Showing that through sports we can promote peace and generate income for our families.
My advice to all the girls in the world is that football is exercise. It will never damage any organ in your body, or cause infertility, so if you really want to achieve your goal, there are a lot of obstacles that will come but you can still pass it through when you are strong. Never give up, because it does not matter how slowly you can go as long as you do not stop. Stand strong always!”
WPDI is convinced of the power of this program to transform the lives of the youths participating in it and, as they practice values of peace in their environments, their communities as well. As with most of our programs, our hope is that the cascading effect we expect from engaging youths and women in constructive and empowering sporting activities will represent a significant, if modest, contribution to setting the country on the right track to peace and stability.
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