Twinned Peace Sports Schools
This project's parent organization is Peres Center for Peace
It operates in Israel and
It uses Football (Soccer) and Basketball
Shortlisted for the Sport for Conflict Resolution Award
More about Twinned Peace Sports Schools
The “Twinned Peace Sports Schools” encourages reconciliation and coexistence through sport between 2,000 young Palestinian and Israeli boys and girls aged 6 – 14 years from 35 at-risk, neglected and peripheral communities.
The project is comprised of extra-curricular sessions in sport training, Peace Education instruction, Inter-Language Learning (Arabic and Hebrew) and joint Palestinian-Israeli activities. The project participants engage in sports training, Peace Education and Language Learning sessions three times a week in their separate Palestinian and Israeli communities, whilst meeting once a month for joint Palestinian-Israeli activities in mixed groups.
Operating in areas devoid of safe activities for youth, this project facilitates coexistence between the sides and encourages transformation among the young participants, in addition to rehabilitating disadvantaged communities. The project improves sports skills and physical fitness, fosters confidence and self esteem, whilst encouraging leadership, discipline and responsibility.
Since many of the participating communities are conservative in their outlook, some even being refugee camps and/or active war zones, the project provides a ‘safe space’ for the youth to freely engage in play, dialogue and peacebuilding with the ‘other side’, which is normally preconceived as the enemy. Indeed, this is the only regional project which uses sport to mitigate cross-border conflict in active war zones.