Founded in 2000 in Complexo da Maré and aimed at developing young people’s potential in low-income communities, Fight for Peace Social project was awarded this Wednesday, the 24th, the most import prize in its 13 years of existence. In the first day of the 15th International Olympic Committee (IOC) World Conference on Sport for All that took place in Lima, Peru, the Carioca project was awarded the prize “in recognition of its initiative and extraordinary contribution in promoting the development of sport for all”.

The award was handed by IOC President, Jacques Rogge, to Fight for Peace Academy Institutional Relations Manager, Gabriela Pinheiro. “That was moving. I’m very proud to be part of Fight for Peace and I’m also proud of everybody in the community who work with sport for the development of so many people”, Gabriela wrote on an e-mail.

Fight for Peace started in Rio de Janeiro. Its methodology arrived in London in 2007 and it is still spreading throughout the world. The prize won in Lima is a token of recognition for this methodology that is being exported to more than 120 world organisations, and is called Fight for Peace’s Global Alumni Programme. It is a clear example of sport-related social transformation in the city that will host the next edition of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“The prize we now receive in Lima is linked to the expansion of this methodology that started in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, something very creative, typically Brazilian”, said Luke Dowdney, from the UK, Fight for Peace’s founder. “We learn many things in Maré. It’s been 13 years of a lot of history, and all this history is currently spreading throughout the world”, he said in Portuguese with a Carioca accent. 

Prize received by Fight for Peace project, an example to be followed through the world

Rio remains this British citizen’s main address. He travels the world taking with him a methodology created in the Marvellous City. He could not attend the award ceremony in Peru because he is in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, meeting community organisations that may become part of the Alumni Global Programme.

“My most recent work consisted of training 120 world organisations using the working methodology created in Maré. In Africa, I’ll visit the cities with the continent’s highest armed violence rates. I have no luxuries in my life. I always find myself in low-income communities. Everything for my greatest ambition in life: transformation through sport”, Dowdney stated, just before he travelled to Africa.

Fight for Peace Project directly benefits 2250 young people every year in Rio and in London, 1800 only in Maré. In Rio de Janeiro, the project serves children and adults ranging from seven to 29 years old and today it includes boxing, capoeira, judo, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and taekwondo classes. In the capital of England, young people between 11 and 24 years old have boxing, muay thai, MMA and fighting fit classes.

In March, the former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick visited Fight for Peace project at Maré Slums. Check it out: