Football 4 Peace International

An activity-based community relations & reconciliation initiative based at the University of Brighton using values coaching with partners across the globe.

Mission Statement and Modus Operandi:

Football 4 Peace (F4P) is a multi-dimensional research; education and social engagement platform that utilises sport innovatively to deliver generic and bespoke ‘values-based’ palliative training and coaching programmes designed in and for areas suffering from high levels of cross-community conflict and various forms of political disorder and social disintegration.

The emphasis on a grass roots, bottom up and sustainable approach to peace building and conflict resolution is reflective of F4P’s deep roots which were planted in Northern Ireland during the bitter sectarian strife of the 1970s and 1980s. The F4P model was refined and matured in the following decades through the undertaking of programmes in Israel, Jordan and Palestine. While the distinctive F4P model evolved against a background of ethno-religious conflict during its evolutionary history, the model has been adapted in ways that render it suitable to be used to help meet a number of related development and cross-community goals.

Profiling and championing a style of critical social science ‘critical-proactivism’ with a high priority given to evaluation and research, scholars at the University of Brighton have been able to engage and partner with practitioners and organisations on and beyond our doorsteps. This collaborative approach has positively influenced sport based interventions within schools, communities and regions across the world by leading and / or supporting activities that make contributions to promoting progressive social change, life enhancement and personal and community empowerment.