Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The South Sudan Association of the Visually Impaired, in partnership with Light for the World, has launched a transformative three-year sports initiative aimed at promoting inclusion, peaceful coexistence, and inter-communal solidarity through inclusive sports programs.
The project will be implemented in Bor, Pibor, and Yambio counties.
Targeting 9,000 children with and without disabilities across 60 schools, the initiative also engages 24 coaches and two sports federations, with the potential to indirectly impact over 30,000 community members.
The program’s core goal is to use sports as a powerful tool to combat hate, discrimination, and social divisions, especially among youth in previously conflicting communities.
The initiative will promote the formation of mixed sports teams and community dialogue groups to bring together boys and girls from diverse backgrounds.
It also aims to expand the blind football league as a visible platform for disability inclusion in sports.
In addition to building inclusive sports structures, the project will emphasize capacity building for male and female coaches, and provide education on anti-discrimination sports practices to key stakeholders.
A particular focus will be placed on the participation of girls and women, challenging traditional gender roles, boosting confidence, and contributing to improved academic performance.
Achulube John, the Project Manager, explained that the initiative is designed to improve access to community-based sports programs that educate the public about peace, equity, and systemic discrimination, while nurturing local leadership in using sports as a vehicle for social transformation.
“This project is going to be in three locations, Bor South, Pibor, and Yambio. The activities include forming sports teams, community dialogues for boys and girls, fostering integration and promoting inclusion, and expanding light football,” stated John.
It will also address discrimination in schools by involving children with and without disabilities in sports. Furthermore, there will be capacity building for coaches and teachers to reduce hate and discrimination within schools, with increased participation of women and girls in sports.”
“This will help us combat stereotypes and enhance inter-communal solidarity and peaceful coexistence. Our target is 9,000 children across 60 schools, working with 24 coaches and two federations, the Paralympic Committee and the South Sudan Football Association.”
Louis Mawut, Chairperson of the South Sudan Association of the Visually Impaired, emphasized the powerful link between sport and disability rights advocacy.
“This initiative combines sport with disability rights advocacy. I believe that through our collective effort and the involvement of all stakeholders, we can take blind football even further. A key goal is to ensure the South Sudan blind football team participates in the 2028 Paralympics,” Mawut said.
“Sports help solve challenges we face as persons with disabilities — it gives us visibility and inclusion in society.”
Simon Madol, a blind football coach and advocate for sport-for-peace, shared a powerful personal testimony of how sports changed his life.
“I am a product of what sport for peace can achieve. My story began in the Mahad IDP camp. I was displaced by the 2013 war. There was division, and we were not living in peace. Then Light for the World introduced sport for peace, and everything changed,” said Madol.
“People who once saw each other as enemies became friends. People who couldn’t share a meal were now sharing a table. That was extraordinary. It made me realize how powerful sport is — it can bring people together and build a nation.”
South Sudan endured a devastating conflict from 2013 to 2018, displacing over 2.3 million people and leaving deep ethnic divisions.
Although a peace agreement has brought relative calm, hate, discrimination, and inter-communal tensions persist, often manifesting in cattle raids, revenge killings, and fresh displacements.
This new initiative seeks to confront those issues head-on, using sport not just as recreation, but as a vehicle for healing, equity, and unity.
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