Football 4 Peace International

Using sport to promote peaceful coexistence

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F4P Korea

Visit the official website of F4P Korea for more news in Korean language.

Football 4 Peace Korea is a peace education through sport programme operating throughout the Republic of Korea. It consists of programmes for children as well as training and education for existing and prospective Football 4 Peace coaches.

F4P began modestly in Seoul in 2013 with a four session programme for 16 elementary school aged children and was operated by staff members and volunteers from the inter-Korean exchange NGO the Korean Sharing Movement. The response to the programme was overwhelmingly positive and the organizers resolved to operate the programme twice annually for local youngsters. In 2015 the project was awarded funding from the Seoul Metropolitan Government allowing the inaugural Football 4 Peace Coach Training to take place over four days at Seoul National University operated by students and staff from Brighton University. Local teachers, university students, and peace education facilitators participated in the training which garnered much attention for its hitherto unseen in Korea approach of utilizing sport in such a manner. The F4P coaching manual has been translated into Korean. It is issued to all volunteers and is central to the training programme.

In the five years since F4P Korea was established 565 children have participated in the regular programme or the festival day of the Coach Training. Due to its popularity, word of the programme has spread beyond Seoul and one programme takes place every year in the city of Suwon as well as taster projects, or school partnered projects having taken place in Jecheon, Daegu, and Dongtan. 176 adults have participated in the Coach Training programme which has run every summer since 2015 and still relies on the participation of Brighton University staff and students for its successful operation.

F4P Korea strives to engender in participants a peace culture through football and play. Utilizing the five F4P values the programme engages youngsters in a discussion about peace by looking at conflict within South Korea, the Korean peninsula and the wider world. The programme has earned plaudits for being an accessible tool to engage children, particularly elementary school aged children, in peace education outside of the classroom. Survey results show that 80% of participants state they would be able to ‘put the values into practise in their everyday lives’. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has evaluated F4P Korea with the highest rating ‘Superb’ (S, A, B, C) every year since funding began in 2015. This allowed F4P Korea’s funding to be extended to 4 years instead of the usual limit of 3 years.

The knowledge transfer from Brighton University during coach trainings has allowed the Korean Sharing Movement to develop its capacity. At Coach Training there is a cascade approach to development where more experienced Korean coaches pass on their learnings to newer coaches. The Korean Sharing Movement also now undertakes supplementary training programmes outside of the summer training camp with the view to training coaches to participate in F4P programmes and not merely utilize the learnings in their own workplace.

In 2018 the Korean Sharing Movement hired a dedicated member of staff to oversee the project. This has seen an increase in locally developed educational resources that emphasize the values within a Korean context as well as the development of programmes lasting up to 12 sessions which maximise the impact of the programme for participants.

By. Dan Gudgeon

 

See also:        Full Flickr gallery      F4P Korea News

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