Solidarity through sport

Greetings from Guatemala City,

We are the social mediators, youth trained by the Youth Advocate Programs Inc. sister agency in Siembra Bien, where we conduct street soccer and other peace-building activities as an alternative to the violence we experience here in the Zona 18 neighborhood.

We are celebrating our first Festival of Peace as part of the International Day of Sports for Development & Peace (IDSDP). Simultaneously, youth in New Jersey will be doing the same activities and participating in our TikTok dance challenge at the International Day of Sports celebration in Trenton, NJ.

There are events planned through all of April in YAP programs in the United States, Australia, Ireland and Sierra Leone. With our Director Gabriela Altman, we have taken the lead on planning the YAP Global Youth Voices celebration for IDSDP.

While for us in Guatemala City, addressing violence is the most important part of our programming, our 5 YAP chapter countries agree that we also think that Solidarity through Sports is important for everyone’s mental and physical health to keep us (as our Australian friends say) “going strong” during the pandemic and after.

Thank you for supporting our anti-violence work, promoting youth leadership and helping people see the positive contributions that young people can make to a community.  

Here’s how can you show Solidarity through Sports and celebrate with us in April:

• Post a message of Solidarity through Sport on social and tag us. #YAPGYV; #YAPGuatemalaLove; #SolidarityThroughSport; #IDSDP2021
• Participate in our TikTok challenge and post your own APRIL CHALLENGE-LET’S MOVE for us
• Participate in one of the YAP IDSPDP activities or plan your own
• Purchase YAP Global Youth Voices apparel & all proceeds will go to our anti-violence work here in Guatemala City
• Read more here https://www.yapinc.org/News/Article/ArticleID/767/2021-IDS

YAP Global Youth Voices is a year-long project to amplify youth voices, launched in August 2020 with the International Youth Day online exhibit and continuing in 2021. YAP Chapters in Australia, Ireland, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, and the United States collaboratively work with young people, staff, and champions of YAP to create initiatives that celebrate resilience, hope, and collectively advocate for positive change and envision that change through a youth lens. Thanks for joining us in March for International Women’s Day, this month for International Day of Sports for Development & Peace, and mark your calendars for International Youth Day in August.