HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan announced on Monday that sixteen Asian and African countries troubled by conflict will send delegates to the second camp organised by the global initiative Generations For Peace, which was founded by Prince Feisal.
Generations For Peace uses sport as a vehicle for peace building in divided communities. Generations For Peace: Camp 08 will take place from November 25 to December 5 in the Al Hussein Youth City, Amman, the venue for the successful pilot camp last year where leaders of youth from seven countries learnt the skills to run peace programmes and cascade their learning back home. As a result of this initial camp, more than 45 peace projects using sport amongst youth in troubled areas will be implemented by the end of 2008 .
A further 70 delegates have now been confirmed for Generations For Peace: Camp 08, from countries including Jordan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, who participated in Camp 07; and newcomers Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Lesotho, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire and Liberia. The Jordanians are participating as the host nation and have been nominated by numerous social development organisations; and the rest of the delegates by UNDP and UNICEF Offices, OlympAfrica, National Olympic Committees and the British Council.
HRH Prince Feisal said: “This increase in the number of participating nations for Generations for Peace: Camp 08 shows the dramatic progress we have made since we launched in 2007. “Since then, over 1100 adults and 10,000 young people in divided communities have been involved in projects run by our Camp 07 delegates, our ‘Peace Pioneers’.
“What we are doing clearly works and now we are ready to increase the breadth and depth of our Generations For Peace activities. This will ultimately benefit hundreds of thousands of young people in communities where the need is greatest.”
The Peace Pioneer Certification Programme will be delivered during Camp 08 from leading international and local peace education experts and sport coaches. The training programme is composed of four key modules which focus on the roles Peace Pioneers will undertake within their communities: Peace Building; instructing children; training of trainers; and Advocacy for Generations For Peace. They will also receive sport training, rules and teaching skills in six sports: Softball, Athletics, Football, Volleyball, Basketball and Table Tennis. The certification programme has been developed by contracted peace education experts and the Coaching Association of Canada under the guidance of Generations For Peace staff.
Upon returning to their communities to begin their own peace programmes, delegates will be supported financially and guided by the Generations For Peace Team based in Amman.
The National Federations of Jordan and Jordan Paralympic Committee are contributing by providing coaches, facilities and equipment. Numerous International Federations are also supporting the camp by sending coaches. These include: the International Softball Federation, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
In addition to Generations For Peace: Camp 08, plans are in place for a third 10 day camp to be held in Abu Dhabi early next year, following the announcement of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister, as a Founding Partner of Generations For Peace.
