The Jordanian royal (pictured top) met with counterpart Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani (pictured below, on right) from the IDB Group along with Dr Ahmet Tiktik, the IDB's acting vice-president for cooperation and capacity development, and Dr Bashir Omar Fadlallah, the director of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, an affiliate of th IDB.

Princess Sarah introduced them to the work and philosophy of Generations For Peace, the Jordanian organisation which is committed to using sport as a tool to promote peace in conflict zones.

During the meeting she spoke of the mutual interests and aims of both organisations.

"Generations For Peace and IDB have a mutual mission to bring sustainable peace and development to different parts of the world," she said.

"The impact which Generations For Peace is achieving in communities around the world is based on our unique holistic approach to peace building.

"When we combine the extraordinary energy and passion of our volunteer leaders of youth with the support of our partners, and the ground-breaking research of our institute, we have the ingredients for achieving greater impact and sustainability."


Dr Ali similarly expressed enthusiasm to working with Generations For Peace towards their mutual aims.

"Implementing joint programmes led by Generations For Peace leaders of youth will foster sustainable peace at the grass-roots, which is necessary for sustainable economic and social development in communities," he said.

Princess Sarah emphasised the importance of empowering youngsters, and encouraging tolerance and responsibility.

Making reference to The Future We Want slogan of the recent Rio+20 forum on sustainability, she added: "I firmly believe that to create the future we want we must remember this connection between peace and development.

"We must invest in empowering youth and communities, at the grass roots, through programmes which promote values and address structural and cultural violence."

Generations For Peace has trained almost 6,000 delegates and pioneers to promote peace through sport since being set up by HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan in 2007.

It claims to have reached over 90,000 children in over 45 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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