It was developed by Dr Alois Hechenberger, an Austrian and international expert in play leadership and peace education. The approach has been tested in many workshops in Europe, Latin America, India, and Africa.
To create awareness among children, teenagers, youth, and their group animators or teachers on peaceful coexistence. They experience and learn this together through interaction in games and sports the attitudes and skills that favor peaceful coexistence, fraternity, cooperation, teamwork, and conflict solution. Empower their capacity so that they become promoters of peace and reconciliation at the grassroots in their local communities.
Methodology
The Six Golden Rules
Adapted from the universal Golden Rule, these six values guide every game, match, and reflection circle on and off the field.
Do Your Best
Play Fair
Hang In
Engage fully with enthusiasm, dedication, and personal effort, celebrating personal progress rather than focusing solely on victory.
Respect game rules, competitors, and officials with complete honesty, proving that integrity stands above any temporary score.
Maintain courage through physical fatigue and difficult moments, uplifting teammates when energy and spirits decline.
Take Care Of
Make a Difference
Celebrate
Protect the physical and emotional safety of every participant, supporting injured or struggling peers with genuine empathy.
Carry sportsmanship into everyday family, school, and neighborhood life, acting as calm reconcilers during social tensions.
Applaud shared effort, new friendships, and collective milestones, sharing refreshments and genuine joy together as one community.
Impact Across Communities
6+
African Countries Active
12,000+
Youth Participants Reached
450+
Facilitators Trained
85+
Peace Tournaments Organized
The Peace Dice
Cooperative Play
Reflective De-brief
Community Action
Before each sports session or tournament, participants roll a giant six-sided dice to choose a focal rule for the day's games.
Trained coaches introduce non-violent game adaptations that require cross-team collaboration to achieve common milestones.
Matches conclude with facilitated circles where youth reflect on fair play challenges, resolving tensions with structured dialogue.
Youth transfer values learned during sports into local service projects, cleaning neighborhood spaces and tutoring peers.
Where We Work Across Africa
Sports4Peace operates across urban centers and rural communities in East and Central Africa, connecting children across cultural lines.
Active hubs include Addis Ababa, Mojo, and Adigrat in Ethiopia, alongside community initiatives in Kampala, Nairobi, and regional border districts.
Partners in Peacebuilding
Our initiatives thrive through cooperative relationships with educational institutions, grassroots associations, and civic leaders.
New Humanity NGO Network
Schools & Community Centers
Local Youth Animators
Aligning field efforts with international development frameworks to foster global citizenship, fraternity, and youth leadership.
Partnering with primary and secondary educators to embed peace games into regular physical education and values curricula.
Empowering grassroots coaches and community volunteers who sustain recurring weekend activities and peer support networks.
Discover recent firsthand reports of youth unity, sportsmanship tournaments, and community building across participating regions.
Uniting Youth in Adigrat
Playground Unity in Kampala
Celebration of Solidarity
Hundreds of young players gathered across Mojo and Adigrat for intensive collaborative workshops, demonstrating peace rules through multi-sport games.
Youth coordinators engaged local school districts in cooperative soccer exercises that eliminated referee disputes through peer mediation.
Regional gatherings united diverse cultural delegations for cross-community athletics, song, and peer dialogue on non-violent living.
Action on the Pitch
Photographic moments of fair play, peer mentorship, and shared joy recorded across our participating communities.
Our Project Journey
A progression of expanding peace education initiatives across schools, community fields, and regional networks.
2021
Program Inception
2023
Facilitator Network
2024
Regional Festivals
2025+
Pan-African Growth
Grassroots Pilots
Training Educators
Tournaments for Peace
Expanding Reach
Initial workshops rolled out the six rules across select school pilot groups in Nairobi and Addis Ababa.
Conducted certified clinics for regional physical educators and volunteer animators across East Africa.
Staged cross-district peace tournaments that gathered thousands of youth for cooperative athletic competition.
Translating game manuals into regional languages and equipping rural sports centers with educational kits.
We welcome schools, youth centers, faith communities, and sports leagues interested in implementing peace education through sport. Reach out to collaborate with our team.