Peacebuilding Academy

Applications for the 2025 Peacebuilding Academy are now open! Apply by Dec 4th!

Generations For Peace USA announces an open call for applications for the second annual Peacebuilding Academy made possible with generous support from and partnership with Laureus Sport for Good USA, Fight for Children, and the Gratitude Network. This call is open to youth-serving organizations in the United States and around the world, with priority consideration for those operating in Illinois, the greater DC area, and/or members of the Gratitude Network.

The 2025 Peacebuilding Academy is a FREE, virtual 6-month program that will run from January-June 2025 under the theme “Sport for Peace.” It is geared towards youth-serving organizations who are eager to learn and apply innovative new ways to use sport to transform issues of conflict and violence in their communities and strengthen youth resilience to violence. Over the course of the program, participating organizations will:

• Deepen their knowledge and skills in identifying community needs, analyzing conflict, and using sport to prevent and address conflict and violence;

• Create a practical plan for integrating peacebuilding principles and practices into their existing work;

• Connect with and learn from peers around the world, joining our growing alumni network!

The 2025 Peacebuilding Academy will include self-paced training modules, practical assignments to apply new learnings, monthly sharing and learning calls with others in the cohort, and office hours for personalized mentoring and technical assistance. Participating organizations can expect to spend about 6 hours per month on the Peacebuilding Academy, for a total commitment of approximately 36 hours. We will organize a final virtual showcase at the end for participating organizations to reflect on and celebrate their lessons learned and best practices with a broader audience.

The Peacebuilding Academy is rooted in Generations For Peace’s globally acclaimed Sport For Peace approach that has been used by more than 23,193 leaders of youth in 52 countries around the world, including the USA since 2019. For more information on the 2024 Peacebuilding Academy, please visit our Past Programs section.

Program Content

The program is divided into three two-month modules on the following topics:

• Module 1: Identifying Community Needs (Jan-Feb 2025)

  • Unit 1.1: Intro to Sport For Peace

  • Unit 1.2: Community Mapping

  • Unit 1.3: Community Needs Assessments

• Module 2: Analyzing Conflict (Mar-Apr 2025)

  • Unit 2.1: Peace and Conflict Theory

  • Unit 2.2: Conflict Analysis

• Module 3: Integrating Sport For Peace (May-June 2025)

  • Unit 3.1 Monitoring and Evaluating Sport For Peace

  • Unit 3.2: Sport For Peace Games

  • Unit 3.3: Programming Framework

  • Unit 3.4: Implementation Plans

By the end of the program, each participating organization will have carried out a community needs assessment, conducted a conflict analysis, and developed an implementation plan to integrate Sport For Peace principles and practices into their existing work.

Eligibility

The 2025 Peacebuilding Academy is open to youth-serving organizations in the United States and around the world that meet the following criteria:

• Nonprofit that can demonstrate current in-country registration (i.e. 501(c)(3) status or equivalent), or fiscally-sponsored organization

• Youth-serving mission that benefits your community (priority consideration will be given to organizations serving communities in Illinois or the greater DC area, or members of the Gratitude Network)

• Willingness and commitment to using sport to address issues of conflict and violence in your community

• Capacity to nominate two organizational representatives to participate in the Peacebuilding Academy (preferably one staff member, who directly engages youth in programming; and one youth representative ages 16-25, who may be a staff member, participant, etc.)

• Availability of your organization’s two representatives to participate for the full duration of the program, which requires approximately 6 hours per month of commitment over six months (36 hours total), including:

Note: We acknowledge that weekday mornings are not usually conducive for participation by US-based high school students due to school schedules. If your organization has a youth representative who is unable to participate in the live sessions due to school commitments, please let us know in your application, and we are committed to working with you to explore alternative arrangements that can enable their meaningful participation.

In order to receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the program, participating organizations are expected to submit all homework assignments and surveys (baseline, midline, and endline), attend at least 5 out of 6 monthly sharing and learning calls, and participate in the final showcase.

Information Session

We are hosting an information session on the 2025 Peacebuilding Academy on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, from 10am-11am CST via Zoom. Click here to register. A recording of the session will be shared after with all who register. If you are not able to attend the information session and/or have additional questions on the 2025 Peacebuilding Academy, please contact Drew Rahme, GFP USA Program Manager, at arahme@gfp.ngo.

How to Apply

If you’re interested in participating in the 2025 Peacebuilding Academy, please complete this application form by 11:59pm US Central Time (CST; time zone converter) on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. Please note we only accept applications through the online form. Here is a PDF offline version of the application form.

Key dates in the application process include:

• 2025 Peacebuilding Academy announced and application forms opened: November 4, 2024

• Information session for interested organizations (register here): November 20, 2024 from 10am-11am CST

• Deadline to submit application forms (apply here): December 4, 2024 at 11:59pm CST

• Discovery/scoping calls and baseline surveys for interested organizations with their two nominated organizational representatives: December 9-20, 2024

• Confirmation of participating organizations and signing of letters of commitment: December 16-20, 2024

About Sport For Peace

Sport For Peace is an adaptable tool to bridge divides, strengthen communities, and build peace in areas experiencing conflict and violence. It was developed by Generations For Peace and has been used by 23,193 leaders of youth in 52 countries around the world since 2007. Sport For Peace uses specifically-designed sport-based games, drills, and adapted official sport code activities which integrate peer-group peacebuilding education, to achieve peacebuilding outcomes rather than develop sporting skills. The activities harness the energy of sport play, and the power of team dynamics and cooperation towards achieving a goal, but with the aim of changing attitudes, behavior, and relationships of the participants. No prior sport experience is required. Sport For Peace activities are carefully adapted to the local context and culture, the local priorities, and the chosen target group participating, and they can be improving based on available facilities and equipment. Sport For Peace is particularly effective in building trust and acceptance, developing respect, ensuring inclusion, and encouraging greater cooperation. For more information on the theory and practice of Sport For Peace, visit here and here.

About the Collaborating Partners

Generations For Peace USA engages children, youth, and adults in experiential learning, inclusive dialogue, and collaborative action to transform their communities into places of safety and belonging for all. Our approach prioritizes community agency and youth leadership, drawing from our global experience working with 20,000+ volunteers in 52 countries worldwide. GFP USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit registered under EIN 46-1577158, with roots in international peacebuilding and development. We were founded in November 2012 by Generations For Peace (GFP), an acclaimed global peacebuilding organization headquartered in Jordan. Today, we are comprised of a skilled US-based team representing diverse identities, geographies, industries, and lived experiences from across the country. We have implemented sport-based youth violence prevention and bridge-building programs in Chicago and Champaign, IL since 2019.

Laureus USA is a non-profit, grant-making organization that works to improve the lives of youth and unite communities through the power of sport. Since 2012, we have impacted the lives of over one million youth by investing $20 million in sports-based youth development organizations around the country that unleash the power of sport to enhance physical and mental health, improve educational and employment outcomes, and address critical social justice issues. Laureus USA is a member of the global Laureus network, which includes 7 National Laureus Sport for Good Foundations, 1 Global Foundation, the Laureus World Sports Academy (and Ambassadors), and the Laureus World Sports Awards. Laureus USA is supporting the Peacebuilding Academy implementation in Illinois.

Gratitude Network is a leadership development organization for social impact leaders around the world who are transforming the lives of children and youth. Their mission is to improve the lives of children and youth around the world by accelerating the community impact of social change leaders. Their flagship program is the Gratitude Fellowship, a multi-component program focused on building leader confidence and capabilities, providing tools and processes for organization impact expansion/scaling, and supporting leaders and their teams to expand the reach and impact of their organization. Their areas of focus are education, health and wellbeing, and human rights. So far, they have engaged 200+ fellows from 82 countries, including the GFP USA Executive Director in 2020.

Fight for Children was founded in 1990 by the late Joseph E. Robert Jr. to improve the lives of children in the nation’s capital. Fight for Children has impacted the lives of more than 400,000 children through improvements in healthcare, education, and policy. Fight for Children’s mission is to help individuals, organizations, and communities leverage the power of sports to improve the lives of underserved youth. Fight for Children achieves this through the Fight For Children Youth Development Institute, the region’s first and only sports-based youth development collaborative, and the Fight For Children Sports Medicine Center at Children’s National, the region’s first and only pediatric sports medicine facility.