The ARI Institute participated in the International Conference on Sports for Development and Peace (ICSSPE), which took place at the Wingate Institute in Israel with participants from 32 countries, including a delegation of 30 from Jordan. The theme was Sport as a Mediator between Cultures.

ARI Executive Board Member Dr. Gilad Shadmon, and Director of Special Projects & Educational Research, Dr. Eli Vinokur, shared views with Israel’s Minister of Culture & Sport, Limor Livnat, UNESCO, and United Nations representatives, and delegates of European Governments.

The ARI Institute’s presentation was based on the principal that the purpose of sports games is to increase the children’s bonding and unity, as well as codependence:

1) Children learn through games more than by any other means.

2) The games must connect the kids and not cause divisions.

3) Competitiveness must be against the clock or other achievements, but not one against the other.

4) Winning is only together and not on one’s own. The unity that is achieved is the real prize.

5) Changing the rules of conventional games to make them about unity and bonding.

Dr. Gilad Shadmon with Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Mr. Wilfried Lemke.

Dr. Eli Vinokur greets Ms. Elizabeth Longworth, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO