Sport & Play for Inter-ethnic Dialogue among Children and Youth in Sri Lanka

More about Sport & Play for Inter-ethnic Dialogue among Children and Youth in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan post-conflict politics leave little room to (re)build relationships and promote dialogue across ethnic and religious boundaries. The school system is divided along ethnic, religious and gender lines, and leaves little space for exchange among children from diverse communities. Violence is the habitual way of dealing with conflicts. The project provides children/youth with life-skills that are not provided in school or at home: children learn to deal with differences and conflicts in a non-violent manner through the use of sport; fair-play and respect for the other are developed while emotional stability is promoted by strengthening their self-confidence and resilience.

Sport and children serve as ideal entry points to reach the parents and the wider community to involve them in the inter-ethnic dialogue process. In a highly politicised and sensitive post-conflict setting as Sri Lanka, where it is almost impossible to implement a direct dialogue or conflict transformation projects, sport, despite its political relevance, is perceived as apolitical and “safe”. Thus, the innovativeness of the project lies in its novel approach of using sport & play to address sensitive issues in a playful manner for bottom-up conflict prevention and conflict transformation and simultaneously providing a “safe” space for encounter.