Use sport to create safe and attractive spaces for youth participation and community dialogue.
Project 06Completed phaseYouth, Peace & Community Dialogue
Sports for Peace
Using football and community dialogue to engage young people in peacebuilding and social change.
Sports for Peace used football as a practical platform to bring young people and communities together for dialogue on gender-based violence, forced early marriage, environmental degradation, nepotism and sustainable living. The initiative was implemented by MasterPeace Malawi in collaboration with SURCOD.
- Location
- Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts, Malawi
- Dates
- 2019
- Countries
- Malawi
- Youth participation
- 253 youth recruited; 25 football games played
Project overview
Football as a platform for dialogue and social change.
The project was built on the idea that sport can create an accessible space for young people and community members to gather, interact and discuss issues that are often difficult to address through formal meetings alone.
Football leagues in Chikwawa and Nsanje were paired with open dialogue sessions and debates. The discussions addressed social and environmental issues affecting young people and their communities while encouraging peaceful participation and practical local responses.
Related SURCOD programme
Youth & Digital Innovation →Objectives
What Sports for Peace set out to achieve.
Increase awareness of gender-based violence, forced early marriage and other harmful practices.
Promote peaceful conflict resolution, collaboration and social cohesion among young people.
Raise awareness of environmental degradation and sustainable living.
Strengthen youth leadership and community engagement through organised sports clubs and events.
Methodology
Sport-centred, participatory and dialogue-driven.
The initiative combined competitive sport with facilitated dialogue. Football created the gathering point, while organised discussions before, during and after matches helped turn attendance into an opportunity for awareness, reflection and youth-led social engagement.
Activities
- Football leagues involving teams from Chikwawa and Nsanje districts.
- Friendly matches designed to promote cooperation and peaceful participation.
- Open community dialogue sessions linked to match days.
- Youth discussions on gender-based violence, early marriage and social inclusion.
- Environmental awareness discussions covering deforestation and sustainable living.
- Youth leadership and peacebuilding through sports-club participation.
SURCOD collaboration role
Connecting youth sport with community-development priorities.
- ✓SURCOD collaborated with MasterPeace Malawi to connect sports activities with community-development priorities.
- ✓The initiative drew on SURCOD's relationships with communities in Chikwawa and Nsanje.
- ✓Youth participation was linked to dialogue on social, gender and environmental challenges affecting rural communities.
- ✓The project used locally organised football activities rather than stand-alone awareness campaigns.
Results
Participation that reached beyond the football field.
253 youth recruited
The initiative recruited 253 young people from Chikwawa and Nsanje in 2019.
25 football games completed
Young people took part in 25 friendly football games during the 2019 programme.
More than 5,000 people reached
Football games and community dialogues reached more than 5,000 people across Chikwawa and Nsanje during the 2019 programme.
Impact and follow-up
Sports for Peace demonstrated how a familiar community activity could be used to convene large audiences and create space for dialogue on peace, gender equality and environmental responsibility.
The initiative combined youth participation with public awareness, helping move social-development discussions out of formal meeting rooms and into spaces where young people and community members were already gathering.
Project gallery
Sport for social change.
Football activities used to bring young people and communities together for dialogue in Chikwawa and Nsanje.
Featured moment
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Partners
A community peacebuilding partnership.
MasterPeace Malawi and SURCOD worked together to connect organised sport with youth participation and public dialogue.
MasterPeace Malawi
Malawi
Project lead and partner
SURCOD
Malawi
Community-development partner
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