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The cross-border Peace and Sports programme started from the grassroots in 2005. The first dummy runs of the concept were initiated by Emeritus Bishop Paride Taban, founder of Kuron Peace Village in cooperation with Pax Christi Netherlands and Seeds of Peace Africa (SOPA) International, and were implemented during peace meetings for pastoralists in Kuron and Narus in Sudan. After successful implementation of the programme, intense planning to decentralise the programme to Uganda, Kenya and other parts of Sudan ensued between 2005 and 2006. The experience to work with the youth with a similar psychological approach comes from SOPA, who did successful work in the slums of Nairobi. The partners implementing the programme carry on with yearlong analysis and share their experiences in supporting local peace initiatives, lobby and advocacy on managing the threat of small arms to the pastoral communities in the cross border region. The concept of the program was built by these organizations, only after they found that it was actually possible and successful to work with youth warriors and their communities in the region of the Karamoja cluster. The intricate knowledge of the local situations and the will to implement the programmes could only be derived from local organizations that already for a long time had invested in peace building among their own communities. These organizations are:
When discussing the concept of the programme in 2005 and 2006, the organizations realized the need for a knowledgeable partner in sports. This partner was found in the NKS, the Dutch Catholic Sports Federation who has been instrumental during the design of the programme and in the first year of implementation in 2007. Various capacity building workshops were held courtesy of the partnership with NKS in collaboration with PSO and in particular to mention was the exposure visit that the youth warriors had while on a ten-day residential training in Eldoret. This was the culmination of the first year of the peace and sports programme. After analyzing the conflicts along these pastoralists’ corridors in 2007, the organizations involved felt the need to include 3 new organizations in 2008 to address clear gaps identified by them through continuous analysis of the conflict through conflict mapping. The following 3 organizations were identified to support the others within this program:
During various program activities other local peace organizations were involved as well, through the partners. This communication and collaboration on the ground is most meaningful and necessary when working for peace and needs to be promoted further.
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