The Kick Project

Pic: www.sportanddev.org Our founder James ran an article in today's Huffington Post, on the occasion of Anzac Day here in Australia. "The power of sport to provide a form of sustenance in times of deadly peril is recognised globally, not just by Australians. In fact, sport has proven to be not only a means of maintaining war, but of aiding peace. In conflict zones across the world, sport has been a presence as a vehicle to co-operate, work together, build bridges and to get along." You can read the full article here .

Pic: abc.net.au Some of us from The Kick Project team were in a meeting with potential partners recently, when we were asked a question about “Proof of Concept” of sport for development and peace. The context of the question was that we were talking about sport for development and peace - especially football - but we weren't putting the pieces together. As she said, “It's all good. But I don't see how this works. How does sport and football generate peace and development? What's the proof of concept ?” It made us think: it can be easy when you're working away on your stuff to lose touch of your context. In this case, this person was someone who wrote grant applications. She wanted to know how she would sell our concept to attract funding. Completely fair enough. So, we (hopefully) addressed her concerns at the time and took her concern on notice for next time we spoke. Debriefing afterwards, we realised there may be others out there who don't quite see t...

Pic: Reuters With the deadly attacks in Paris and in Beirut in November still in the headlines, it is easy to concentrate on the problems, not on solutions. Even as we mourn for the victims of these crimes, and question the justification for such acts, let us not lose sight of the fact that humanity, for all its apparent hatred and evil, is also imbued with the ability to make peace and find love. And sport is one of the most powerful means of realising these positives. The evidence for this is, to some extent, embedded within the acts of terrorism themselves. For decades, terror groups have targetted major sporting events for their campaigns. It is no shock, in historical terms, for instance, that the terrorists behind the Paris attacks honed in on the Stade de France where a friendly football match between France and Germany was being played. This simply follows a pattern that has existed since at least the murders of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. ...

Pic: News24 Distressing news coming out regarding a lost generation of children, victims of the war in Syria. Human Rights Watch has released its report into Syrian refugees in Turkey and finds that as many as 400,000 Syrian children there have no access to education. This is in a context of virtual 100% primary school attendance in Syria pre-civil war and high levels of high school attendance as well as good scores on educational ratings, such as literacy. This is what war does. It may be easy to blame Turkey for this situation. But, this country has taken in around 2 million Syrians fleeing violence and a broken country. Rather than blame Turkey - and blame is not a word we like much here, anyway - maybe we should all look at what are we doing as individuals, and at what are our governments and the international bodies that represent us doing about this. This appears evidence that more needs to be done. It's not about blame, but about finding solutions.* We take a b...

Pic from Syria from frankborstart.com The UN has released some figures on its peace-keeping efforts worldwide. While the organisation does what it can, it is clear that it - the pre-eminent peace-keeping organisation in the world - is far from making even a scratch on the surface of global conflict.  These figures confirm our reasons for being. There are 16 current conflicts the UN is working in around the world. The oldest is on the India-Pakistan border (in place since 1949), the newest in the central African republic (2014). Since 1948, there have been 71 UN peace-keeping operations and so, today, just under 23% of all the peace-keeping operations voted as necessary by the UN in 67 years are on-going. The UN says there are 125,396 peace-keepers in the UN's employ (so-called Blue Helmets). The budget for peace-keeping in 2014/15 is $US8.5 billion. It sounds a lot, but consider the following. The total armed personnel in just the top 20 militarised countri...

The Kick Project fully endorses the views of Melissa Fleming from UNHCR on empowering refugees within the camps and settlements to thrive, as per the above TED Talk, (or here if the embed isn't working) given in Rio last October. She speaks mainly of academic education, the kind that leads to degrees and diplomas. Its a totally valid view but I would enhance what she says with a thought for the value of physical education through organised and secure sport. Maths and English may not be for everyone. If fact, if that is the only subjects of education then this may even alienate students. In cases of refugees, these people have been alienated enough. Sport, for me, provides the following important outcomes: Good Health Confidence Interaction Co-operation and Team-work Competing Fairly Hope Fun Pride Trust in Others Direction and Focus Healthy Distraction and Escape Community Engagement I'm sure there are more. That's just off the top of my head...

Last month commemorated the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. This war essentially began the modern era of warfare and began the shift away from simple line v line battles to more complex and changeable theatres of war. It also began the trend towards greater numbers of civilian deaths which continues today. In most wars now civilian casualties outnumber military personnel and wars are fought in largely civilian areas. So, it's pertinent to recall this story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, which included spontaneous soccer/football games between soldiers on both sides of the trenches. Maybe the UN and other bodies vested with generating peace in situations of war really should take off their suits, get out of the negotiating rooms and drop a football in the middle of the warring parties. Word is the EPL is involved in putting on some kind of event to mark the occasion, which has been planned for some time.

I must admit, I wasn't as moved to gushiness by the German world cup performance as this commentator in Die Welt. But, I accept the contention that the win and the way it was done did much for a nation still questioning itself over two world wars. However, football, even if via a victory in its biggest event, has shown before it can medicate an ailing nation. While Germany wasn't exactly ailing before Brazil 2014, it is still stooping into its future by virtue of its dark past. If the World Cup win allows this generation of Germans to stand a little taller and walk more easily into the future without the burdens of their parents and grandparents holding them back then who can complain? While not allowing any of us to forget history, that has to be a positive for all. Peace has to be good for the losers, even for the initiators of war, not just for the winners. Read more here  Gestures like this from Arsenal's German international Mesut Ozil will certainly help sp...

Pic: Conflict Voices The valuable role of this well known football club and how it contributes to healing in a region still recovering from war and ethnic violence is examined in Matt Gault's feature for These Football Times. Read more here . It's worth noting that so-called soccer wars where-by games between ethnically defined league teams become focal points for inter-ethnic tensions, have played a role in this region before, as this report from 2011 shows.  I have also discovered an interesting looking text and photo book on the subject of war, peace and football in this region (the above photo is from the book) titled Offside: Football in Exile  which is featured here .

Pic: Goals of Peace Soccer Camp A camp organised by Soccer 4 Peace has successfully run a program in Israel aimed to bring kids from both Jewish and Muslim backgrounds together, on soccer's common ground. Read more