By Paul Osborne

The Guatemalan Olympic Committee and Brock University have signed a partnership agreement ©COGAn agreement has been signed between the Guatemalan Olympic Committee (COG) and Canada's Brock University in an effort to create new sports programmes that will help prevent youth violence and promote a healthy lifestyle for children.

Through the partnership, the two organisations will work together to establish sporting activities that are hoped to combat these two major issues.

The acting Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health at Brock University, Dr James Mandigo, is in Guatemala now, presenting a variety of initiatives and sporting programmes to reduce violence in youth.

These programmes have been successfully carried out in El Salvador for the past 10 years and it is hoped they will make a real difference to the people of Guatemala.

The partnership agreement will see the COG and Brock University work together to combat youth violence in Guatemala ©COGThe partnership agreement will see the COG and Brock University work together to combat youth violence in Guatemala ©COG



Dr John Corlett, vice-chancellor of the University of MacEwan, which works in conjunction with Brock University, believes the programmes will "allow the realisation of future projects that will contribute to a better Guatemala and less violence".

The signing of the cooperation agreement was held at the COG's House of Culture and was attended by the ambassador of Canada, Stuart Savage; Dr Corlett; Gerardo Aguirre and Lorena Toriello, President and member of the COG Executive Committee; and Sergio Vargas Daetz of the Olympic Academy in Guatemala.

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