Tag Archives: partners of the americas

by taylorgbrown | February 21, 2012 · 2:22 pm

2012 PPI-SA Tryouts and a New Fellow!

Participants getting ready to work on their dribbling skills at St. Leo Primary School in Molweni.

Things are busy here at PPI-SA, in all aspects of the organization! The two major things going on this week in the world that is PeacePlayers International – South Africa are:

1. Primary School and Leadership Development Program (LDP) Try-outs

Our entire staff of 42 has been out and about in the Durban Summer heat during the past week hosting tryouts at our 32 Primary Schools and 4 LDP communities. Participants are anxious for the actual program to begin next week and all are eager to be a part of the PPI-SA program. At some primary schools, like St. Leo Primary in Molweni and Carrington Primary in the City, over 60 kids turned up for tryouts! Unfortunately, due to current resource limitations, we are only able to field one boys and one girls Primary School team at each of our partner primary schools. In the past, each school had two boys’ teams and two girls’ teams (one for Grades 6 and one for 7).

Kristin going to the hoop during a game while playing for Keene State University.

2. The Arrival of new PPI-SA Fellow Kristin Degou

After a 2-day orientation in Washington DC, Kristin departed the States for her 22 hours of flight time to Durban, South Africa. The Washington DC orientation included an Anatomy of Peace workshop held on Friday, in which Kristin had the opportunity to learn the foundation of PPI’s peacebuilding curriculum and interact with other organizations in attendance, including Partners of the Americas, IREX and USAID. Kristin comes to Durban at just the right time, as our program activity starts next week. After having our first staff meeting this morning, Kristin’s very excited to get out “In the Field” to work with PPI-SA staff and participants. Check back next Tuesday for a personal update from Kristin about her first week in South Africa!

Many more exciting blog posts will follow over the coming weeks and months, including contributions from Kristin bi-weekly. Make sure to continue checking this space!

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Tagged as Anatomy of Peace Workshop, Carrington Primary School, IREX, Kristin Degou, Leadership Development Program, Molweni, partners of the americas, primary school program, St. Leo Primary School, Try-outs, USAID

by peaceplayersintl | January 3, 2012 · 2:15 pm

PPI Visits Colombia with Partners of the Americas’ YSME

Brian with the champions of INDER-Envigado's basketball league, from La Mina!

Today’s post is written by Brian Cognato, PPI’s Technical Assistance Program Director.

From Friday, December 9th, to Saturday, December 17th, I was lucky enough to take part in Partners of the America’s Youth Sports Managament Exchange (YSME) program, funded by the Sports United program of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Partners of the Americas runs a wide variety of programs that promote social and economic development in the Americas through leadership, voluntary service, and development. One of our favorites is A Ganar, which uses sport as a tool for employment education in many parts of the Americas. When this great organization invited us to take part in the YSME program, then, which allows youth sports practitioners in the United States and Latin America to visit each others’ work and learn more about their efforts, we jumped at the chance.

The community pool run by Deportes Sin Limites in Aranjuez.

I spent a week in and aroundMedellin, Colombia, the country’s second biggest city, learning about how local community leaders have harnessed the power of sport to help young people overcome a variety of challenges. Hosted by an incredibly welcoming family in Envigado, a smaller city right next door to Medellin, my travels brought me from the very impressive headquarters of Indeportes Antioquia, where the state offers free services and even housing to elite athletes in development, to a community pool high above the city in a neighborhood called Aranjuez, where a swimmer has built a program using swimming and dancing to help blind, deaf and mute children learn to express themselves.

Las Alumbradas, an annual tradition, stretching along the Rio Medellin.

As professionally enriching as the trip was, some of my favorite moments weren’t even during the “official” activities. Practicing my (very poor) Spanish with Julian and Valeria, the two youngest members of my host family; watching a basketball championship in the neighborhood of La Mina; being warmly welcomed into countless houses for arepas and sancocho; seeing las alumbradasalong the Rio Medellin – those are experiences I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

My task now is to share what I’ve learned with the rest of our team here at PeacePlayers International. We work in a diverse array of areas, and, even though we don’t have any operations in Latin America right now, we believe that we can always learn something new. I’m excited to tell my colleagues here about what I saw, and hear how they’re continuing to innovate in their own neighborhoods, as we seek to use sport to make the world a more peaceful place.

My heartfelt thanks to Partners of the Americas; the Sports United program at the Bureau of Edcuational and Cultural Affairs; my host family, the Lopez family; my translator, Danilo; and the countless friends who shared their work with me in Colombia!

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Tagged as Colombia, partners of the americas, sportsunited, technical assistance

by peaceplayersintl | December 12, 2011 · 2:42 pm

‘Tis The Season… To Travel!

PPI's Executive Director Brendan Tuohey (2nd from left) is one of three staff members to get out of the office and into the field this month.

The holidays are fast approaching in PPI’s DC office, but our staff is on the move. Three of DC staff members are traveling to the field this week:

Executive Director Brendan Tuohey is visiting PPI – Middle East in Israel and the West Bank this week with PPI board member Win Sheridan. Brendan also spent time with PPI – ME this summer with PPI board member RC Buford.
Director of Operations Tal Alter is in the same region, but will an make additional trip to PPI in Cyprus.
Finally, PPI’s Technical Assistance Program Director, Brian Cognato, is in Colombia this week on an exchange trip with Partners of the Americas.

Updates from their trips to follow!

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Tagged as Brendan Tuohey, brian cognato, partners of the americas, Tal Alter, Win Sheridan

by peaceplayersintl | July 25, 2011 · 1:37 pm

PPI Exchanges Best Practices with Latin American Organizations

Participants in the workshop came from Colombia and Ecuador.

PPI Director of Operations Tal Alter recently participated in a workshop with Latin American sports for development practitioners. Below he shares his thoughts on the experience:

Tal Alter speaks on a panel during the workshop.

On Friday, June 17, I had the opportunity to represent PPI on a panel at the Inter-American Development Bank as part of a workshop and exchange with 13 sports for development practitioners from Colombia and Ecuador. Organized by Partners of the Americas and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s SportsUnited office, the workshop allowed for the panelists, which also included representatives from D.C. Scores, League of Dreams, The Grassroot Project, and Ganamos Todos, to share experiences and best practices for connecting with at-risk and disabled youth and implementing sport for development programs in a wide range of contexts.

Following the large group discussion, the panelists and practitioners broke into small groups for more focused conversations on specific challenges and implementation methodologies. The topics of these smaller conversations ran the gamut – from approaches to using sport as a tool for peacebuilding and gang/violence prevention, to training young participants to be future programmatic leaders and encouraging girls and young women to participate in sports programs in communities where such activity is not encouraged.

Despite significant cultural differences between these Latin American countries and those of PPI’s sites, the easy dialogue I felt with the practitioners (aided by interpreters, of course) demonstrated to me the kinship of sport for youth development programs, regardless of geography or method of implementation. Though we have yet to work directly with our sport for development brothers and sisters in Latin America, the workshop left me encouraged that such future collaboration can and will happen. The day provided a great learning experience for me and PPI, and I look forward to a continuing dialogue with our new friends from Colombia and Ecuador.