CSDA targets youth for the 2015 International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

In commemoration of IDSDP 2015, youth from the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) gathered at CSDA headquarters in Siparia, Trinidad to be among the first to participate in youth leadership training using the latest Sport for Development and Peace advocacy toolkit.

The workshop provided the participants the opportunity to become more aware of their voice and influence in decision-making as young people and helped them to develop the desire to become advocates of SDP through a deeper appreciation of the potential impact of the movement.

Activities, which involved group tasks centred around identifying community issues and strategising on how sport could help, were facilitated by Janine Thornhill, Caribbean Representative on the Commonwealth Youth Sport for Development and Peace (CYSDP) working group and Marlon Ali, both leaders on the CSDA team.

“Today was very eye opening for me and I never realised what a difference sport could make.” said Steven Rajnath (UTT student).

“After leading this workshop I am confident that this toolkit would be useful to young people and maybe they could add some of the games we included as well” said Janine.

In addition to these activities the Ilonka Elmont Foundation, based in Suriname, hosted a sports day for persons with disabilities on 30 March. Approximately 200 children participated in a day filled with fun activities during an outdoor session with youth on 11 April.

Andre Collins, CSDA director, indicated that he was extremely happy with the day’s activities and excited that the IDSDP celebrations continue to grow in the region and around the world after only two years.