USE OF SPORT AS A TOOL FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE

Sport is an international language that can bring people together no matter what their origin, background religious belief or economic status. The contribution sport can make towards social inclusion is invaluable, and it can as well be described as a tool to reach development objectives and address challenges arising from humanitarian crisis in conflict and post-conflict settings.

In the peace-building process, sport can be seen as a non-verbal means of communication to engage in collective experience, building relationship between different groups and fostering social integration. For example, the Africa Yoga Project in Kenya uses the transformative power of yoga to empower communities improving physical, emotion and mental well-being and creating opportunities to learn and contribute to a culture of unity, non-violence and possibility. The program has been started after the post electoral violence and provides an alternative support system to many young people in Nairobi living in slums and fighting daily to survive.

Sport is also used as a psychosocial tool in disaster response and can be adapted in the field as a non-medical approach to build the coping capacities of people affected by conflict offering support towards restoration of social and psychological health. In the extremely volatile context of Somalia, playgrounds have been built respectfully of local culture, traditions and gender relationships to stimulate building of relationships of trust, self-confidence, partnership and resiliency. In the picture, the playgroud realized by UNHABITAT in Mogadishu through an Italian fund.

 Most research that examines the relationship between sport and gender refers to the transformative potential of sport to challenge gender norms: girls and women who participate in physical activities demonstrate higher self-esteem as well as improved self-perception, self-empowerment and personal freedom. Although the participation of women and girls in sport remains largely imbalanced when compared to participation among men and boys, most researchers are in agreement that the consistent and continued participation of women and girls in sport has had a major impact on achieving gender equality in certain contexts. Moving the Goalposts – Kilifi Kenya is a girls youth sports and development organization using football to develop essential life skill of vulnerable young woman, providing a entry point for reproductive health, human rights and economic empowerment initiatives.