The Forum, which was attend by a number of United Nations representatives and International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, including President Jacques Rogge, saw Prince Feisal outline the success of Generations For Peace, which is one of only two peace through sport organisations officially recognised by the IOC; the other being Right To Play.

Generations For Peace has grown rapidly since it was founded by Prince Feisal in 2007 and now supports delegates and certified Generations For Peace Pioneers in communities facing a variety of forms of conflict in 46 countries and territories.

Over 526 delegates have been trained through the Generations For Peace Pioneer Certification Programme at seven intensive 10-day camps in Amman, Abu Dhabi and Sochi.

They have passed their learning and experience on to over 4,200 second-generation pioneers and delegates, meaning that the Generations For Peace programmes have now touched the lives of 62,000 children.

"The unique power of sport has so much more to offer than just the inherent benefits of participation – important as they are," said Prince Feisal, who is also an IOC member and head of the Jordanian Olympic Committee. 

"Sport's convening power, when teams and clubs become ready-made peer groups, makes it a vitally important entry-point and vehicle for behaviour change in individuals and communities.

"To change individual behaviour you must habitualise new routines which require regular repetition, reinforcement of values and their manifestation as behaviours and actions.

"Regular fun sport activities provide the platform and peer group support mechanism for setting these new routines and effecting behaviour change over time.

"But it requires real integration of the values and educational objectives into the sport situation itself if it is to be properly captured.

"This requires a different skill set.

"Our Generations For Peace curriculum, adjusted and developed over the last three years, is one attempt to provide the principles, the skills and the tools which our pioneers need and demand to allow them to integrate education on conflict resolution and peace building.

"The challenge for all of us is to better integrate processes to measure and articulate the impact, efficiency, and sustainability of sport for peace and development programmes."

Prince Feisal was speaking just a week after the inauguration of the new Generations For Peace headquarters and the Generations For Peace Institute in Amman, which was opened by Jordan's King Abdullah II, Prince Feisal's older brother.

Prince Feisal admitted that neither the Generations for Peace nor the new Institute were models of 'best practice' but said that the research carried out there can help show the power sport in the peace making process and invited all to engage with the Institute and share the knowledge it can provide.

"Rigorous academic research in the field is still in its nascent phase but there is a wealth of learning and experience from within our community and from other fields," he said.

"For this very purpose, we established the Generations For Peace Institute in Amman which was inaugurated just last week.

"Our vision is to serve the field of sustainable peace and development as global thought leaders in understanding the power of sport to unite and inspire change.

"In fulfilling our mission, we will pioneer the cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research that will articulate that power.

"So we will need to connect the finest academic minds with the practitioners on the ground.

"Our collaboration with Georgetown University and, most recently, the University of Oxford, are just the first steps.

"Let me be clear - we do not hold up Generations For Peace as a 'model' for others to emulate.

"There is no such thing as a singular 'best practice'.

"I believe we have learned some useful lessons through our experiences and I know that many others also have useful experiences from which we can all learn.

"I invite all to engage with the Generations For Peace Institute and make use of it.

"Let us work together, share, exchange, develop and cascade our range of best practices together.

"And let's take another great leap forward in our mission to bring that sustainable peace to our world."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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