The Mercy Corps Blog

Blog Post Posted October 19, 2009, 8:50 am by Steve Haley

Promoting peace in northern Lebanon

As part of Mercy Corps' efforts to reach conflict-affected youth in Lebanon, Mercy Corps and Najdeh Association set up a five-day football tournament in September.

The tournament included 13 teams from Nahr el Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The winning team played a friendly game on the fifth day with Al Koucheh football team (Akkar). This finale took place on the day commemorating the International Day of Peace, just one day before the Ramadan holidays. Around 80 Lebanese and Palestinians ages 18 to 30 attended the final game.

This activity is a part of the "One Day One Goal" campaign that sets up Peace Day football matches in conflict areas around the world, and was developed by the camp's youth committee to address psychosocial issues related to the youth population within the camp and with the surrounding communities.

The game's significance is in line with one of the aims of the broader project, funded by the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, or ECHO, of reconciliation and dialogue between camp residents and the surrounding Lebanese community.

The tournament had a very positive impact on the participating youth of the camp because it allowed for the restoration of a tradition that existed before the crisis in 2007, when the camp was completely destroyed. It gave a measure of hope and assurance although slight vis-a-vis the return to normalcy in the camp.

Another very salient positive effect was that it allowed camp youth and Lebanese youth from the surrounding area to participate together in a safe and constructive activity which acts to normalize relations between Lebanese and Palestinian communities. This could be gleaned from remarks of both players and supporters.

One supporter said, "The last game was the most striking because it reawakened hope through interaction of Palestinian and Lebanese youth and revealed a sense of camaraderie and healthy competition ... and this will lead to the return of positive relations between the two communities."

One of the players alluded to the positive effect of the tournament saying that the next step would be to host Lebanese teams at the camp. Another woman added, "These activities should be regular between youth and other members from both communities since we lived all our lives as one community."

Finally, it's worth mentioning that this tournament was a starting point to recreate positive perceptions between the Lebanese and Palestinian youth with sports as an entry point — an activity that should be focused on and encouraged on a larger scale.