The programme is helping communities in places as far-flung as Nigeria, Timor-Leste, Pakistan and the Sudan learn how to put down guns and machetes and instead pick up balls.

"Sport is universal," the Prince tells insidethegames. "If we can get children to not look at each other as adversaries but to look at each other as human beings, friends, playmates, teammates then we can instill through them the right values and attitudes so that they don't continue with what has been hundreds of years of cycles of violence and living in the past.

"My father His Late Majesty King Hussein, was passionate about seeking peaceful solutions to the region’s greatest conflicts. This tradition is being carried on by my brother His Majesty King Abdullah II and I am honoured to also carry on our father’s work.

"This is the right time because we are experiencing the greatest ever rise in turmoil, division and extremism. Not just here in this region [Middle East], but throughout the world. Government-led solutions and diplomacy must remain the route to resolution but there is also a great need to support these top-down initiatives with grass roots actions. Generations for Peace will be planting seeds of peace throughout the divided world."

The programme, which aims to empower, train and support leaders of youth from conflicted communities around the world to use the power of sport to unite children and youth from all sides of their divides to contribute towards a sustainable peace, launched with a pilot camp in Amman in 2007 involving leaders from eight Islamic countries. There have been four more camps since then, including one in Abu Dhabi, the home of Sheik Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, another founding partner.

Generations for Peace has an advisory board made up largely of members of the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee and international sports federations. Alex Gilady, the IOC member from Israel, also sits on the board.

Prince Feisal said the concept has been to bring youth delegates from conflict countries to a twice-yearly camp where they are taught how to create sport programmes, identify at-risk youth and communicate with parents to break down barriers around conflicts.

"This idea is very simple," he says. "We need to convince parents to allow children to play together. We need to engage religious leaders, community leaders and political leaders to put aside differences and to work for resolutions. It is the children who will help teach us that."

The delegates’ purpose is to return home and teach what they have learnt to other people and for them to pass it on in what they term a "cascade" effect. The Prince takes justifiable pride out of the way that it has developed, especially as there were a lot of people, including within the IOC who saw it as just another honourable venture but with limited appeal and certain to fail.

"A lot of exciting things are happening and we are taking the dream on," says Prince Feisal, who plans to have three camps this year including the first ever in Europe and has also received approaches to host ones in Latin America and Africa.

"We have so far reached 31 countries and trained up just under 400 people since 2007 which has cascaded on to seeing those trainers train up over 42,000 children back in their countries. We are building up momentum. We can do the work and have a look at the grassroots, but we cannot be as effective if the political resolve isn’t there.

"Our prime aim is to teach and train local youth workers from conflict zones around the world how they can use sport as a tool to bring children together and unify divided communities.

"We find our future peace pioneers through NGOs (non-governmental organisations) or regional Olympic committees. After completing a strict selection process, which comprises several interviews, we invite them to a peace camp. One of the main pillars of these camps is an intensive practical and theoretical training programme that touches on various subjects such as peace building, conflict resolution and management, skills that deal with discriminatory behaviour, child protection, sportsmanship and of course sports coaching.

"After completing the curriculum, the youth workers are expected to establish their own grass-root organisations that focus on peace building through sport. We support them in this by providing funding, assistance in drafting their project and budget plans, and support in running their projects.

"We maintain ongoing contact, monitor their progress and evaluate the programmes. Apart from working with children, the youth workers are expected to share their knowledge with other members of their communities and to train 20 youth workers a year. Our aim with the 'train the trainer' programme is to get as many people involved in peace building as possible."

It would be simple to be cynical and just dismiss Prince Feisal's concepts as a worthy but ultimately futile exercise. "There is an old saying that nothing worthwhile ever comes easy," he says. "There is too much violence and conflict in the world. In keeping with my late father's legacy and what my brother is doing, we've got to continue to work. Peace won't come back if we just sit back and wait for it."

The Prince, who currently holds the rank of Lieutenant General and is the Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), was educated in England and the United States. He graduated with a Masters of Management from London Business School in 1998 having already earned a Bachelor of Science, Electronic Engineering, specialising in communications, degree from Brown University.

The 46-year-old is also heavily involved in motorsport and is an influential figure at the FIA but his main passion remains the Olympics. Since becoming President of the Jordan Olympic Committee in 2003 he has worked tirelessly to place Jordan on the world map of sport and has successfully attained worldwide recognition for Jordan through his initiatives and hosting international events, including the World Cross Country Championships last year, which was attended by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Lamine Diack (pictured with Prince Feisal).

"Promoting sports events is critical to the promotion of Jordan in general," he says. "In many parts of the world, communities are divided within themselves and from each other. In good times and bad, sport is the glue which binds communities together. Sport provides a sense of identity and of social cohesion.

"As founder and chairman of Generations for Peace, I believe passionately in the power of sport to unite people, to create a common sense of purpose and values.

"To create community where none existed previously and to recreate community when old values have been under threat.

"Our objective at Generations for Peace is to harness the power of sport in some of the world’s most disadvantaged and divided communities. We aim to empower youth from conflicted communities and use the power of sport to unite children and youth from across divides.

"In that way we can play a role in achieving sustainable peace and social cohesion and to enhance the lives of today’s youngsters and those of future generations. And we do so by enabling members of those communities to learn a range of teaching, coaching and technical skills which will allow them to teach others the lessons of leadership, respect and tolerance, empowerment, teamwork and responsibility."

Prince Feisal's election as a member of the IOC gives him an even greater platform to spread his values around the world. Encouraging peace, in particular with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has continued to receive the support of Prince Feisal’s elder brother, King Abdullah, who ascended the Throne after the death of King Hussein in 1999.

In what is a unique achievement Prince Feisal is the second member of his family to be elected an IOC member. Princess Haya, wife of the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad Al Maktoum, was elected primarily because of her role as president of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

"I hope we can both contribute effectively to the IOC,” says Prince Feisal. “It was for me a deep honour to be elected to the IOC. I was very touched by the IOC and also its official recognition for the Generations for Peace movement which was also a great achievement and a mark of the progress we have made in such a short space of time."

King Hussein earned worldwide during his reign for balancing the pressures of Arab nationalism and the allure of Western-style development against the stark reality of Jordan's geographic location. His commitment to democracy, civil liberties and human rights helped to make Jordan a model state for the Middle East, and the kingdom is internationally recognised for having the most exemplary human rights record in that region

"I’m sure he would have been proud not just of me but also of how the Generations for Peace movement has developed," Prince Feisal says. “Indeed I am sure that he would be proud of all of his children in what we have advanced in terms of encouraging peace, not just in the Middle East but also throughout the world.

"What he has bred in us is to help peace not just in our region but worldwide. He would have loved to have seen us doing what we are doing which is breeding peace and understanding around the world.



"We believe that sport has the power to bring people together - regardless of their race, religion, tribe, caste, or socio-economic background. Sport is one of the few languages everyone understands, no matter where you are from. It furthermore teaches participants tolerance, self-respect, and team play - among other things. These elements are crucial in unifying people.

"We work with children because they, in general, are more flexible then adults. They are not as fixed in their mindsets, and tend to focus more on similarities then on differences.

"We foresee that, by playing together, children slowly but surely will learn to see each other as equals, as individuals, as team mates, as friends - not as 'the other ones' or the enemy. This mindset will hopefully be passed on to their children and grandchildren.

"The key difference between Generations for Peace and other organisations is the cascading effect. Take our train the trainer programme, for example. It means that you might start off with one person working with children and teach them about sport and peace, but growing to 20 trainers in a year's time.

"We are also a very sustainable organisation. We do not dish out money and leave the grass-root projects to be established on their own. We remain involved, always."

The camps have already had some notable successes, says Prince Feisal. “In 2007, after our first peace camp, Sudanese delegates established a peace-through-sport working group within their National Olympic Committee,” he recounts. “Shortly afterwards, as part of the third anniversary celebrations of the Sudanese peace treaty, they arranged for a women's basketball team from the north to play with the women's basketball team from the south. The event took place in a big stadium and was witnessed by thousands of supporters from both sides. It was a huge success. Something like this used to be considered impossible.”

Nevertheless there remain plenty more challenges ahead, as Prince Feisal acknowledges. "People do ask me sometimes why I am doing this, as there are so many sports and peace building initiatives out there already," he admits. "I actually believe we don't have enough such projects. I think that any project that brings people together and promotes peace, understanding and tolerance is necessary. Especially in this day and age in which you only have to switch on your TV to see all the violence in the world.

"The global economic turmoil will fuel more violence. Usually, when the going gets tough people tend to blame their problems on everyone else. People become less tolerant, less respectful. This often results in violence. That is why we need to double our efforts to combat this trend.

"This is exactly why we need to get far more people involved in making the world a better place by promoting peace. Together we can make a difference. Eventually we will get there. We just start with one child and youth worker at a time."

“It is part of the challenge that we face. To overcome this obstacle, we put quite a bit of effort in training our peace pioneers how they can make parents more willing to let their children interact. One can do so by, for instance, involving traditional leaders. However, in general most parents actually allow their children to play together - even if they do not like the thought of it.

"A nice detail is that sport competitions between children sometimes lead to greater interaction between the adults who are cheering for their sons and daughters. Of course, we realise that there will always be families that are not willing to overcome their prejudices. That does not mean one should stop trying.”

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

Duncan Mackay is the editor of insidethegames.biz. He was the 2004 British Sports Journalist of the Year and was the athletics correspondent of The Guardian for 11 years, being the only British daily newspaper writer to correctly predict in 2005 that London's Olympic bid would be successful. He was recently voted the British Sports Internet Writer of the Year for 2009