Peace and Sport Project to Develop Sport in Côte d'Ivoire

To coincide with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced it will start a partnership in 2011 with Peace and Sport, “L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport”, enabling around 150 young people with a disability in Ivory Coast, Africa to practice sport at least twice a week in a structured environment.

The IPC is planning to strengthen the Ivory Coast’s National Paralympic Committee with a workshop as part of its Organizational Development Initiative in February 2011 to promote and increase leadership in the country. The aim will be to have the committee become an active partner of the society in Ivory Coast, and an active partner in implementing the United Nations Convention for people with a disability.

The project will have participants brought in from the streets of Ivory Coast to focus on sport, with the hope of developing the Paralympic Sport in the country. The National Paralympic Committee will train sport instructors to mentor and supervise the participants, promoting Athletics, Sitting Volleyball, Table Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball.

The intention of the IPC’s involvement is also to identify potential athletes for future competitions in Paralympic Sport. The objective will be to support training and showcase ability, rather than disability, bringing it to a local, regional and international level.

For the project, Peace and Sport will be working together with other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Sports Federations, schools and equipment providers to assure success.

As an organization, Peace and Sport promotes the practice of structured sport and sporting values to educate young generations and help foster social stability, reconciliation and dialogue between communities. An international initiative at the service of peace, Peace and Sport intervenes in areas made vulnerable by extreme poverty, recent conflict or lack of social cohesion.