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Colombia’s Positive Peace Champions program pairs football with life-skills training for young people.
On football pitches in the Olas II neighborhood of Bucaramanga, Colombia, young players gather each week to train, compete and spend time with teammates. But alongside passing drills and small-sided games, they are also learning something less visible: how to listen, resolve conflict and work together.
These lessons unfold in a country where peacebuilding remains an ongoing challenge. Colombia’s decades-long conflict between government forces, guerrilla groups and paramilitary organizations killed more than 220,000 people between 1958 and 2010, the vast majority civilians, and displaced millions from their homes. More than 2 million children and adolescents are registered among the country’s victims, underscoring how deeply the conflict has shaped younger generations.
Through Positive Peace Champions, a program developed by the Football Peace Academy, football sessions are paired with workshops that help young participants build leadership skills and navigate conflict. The program helps them navigate challenges in their own lives and become advocates for peace in their communities.
The pilot program currently engages 121 children and adolescents in Bucaramanga. It is delivered in partnership with the Colombian nonprofit Fundación Goles por la Paz, which works with young people in communities affected by violence through sport and education. Funded by The Charitable Foundation, the initiative combines sport with socio-emotional learning to help young people build the attitudes and tools needed to promote cooperation and dialogue.
Football is the starting point. The goal, however, reaches far beyond the game.
A Country Shaped by Conflict
Colombia’s recent history has been deeply shaped by internal conflict. Although a peace agreement signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016 marked a major milestone, many communities continue to navigate the lasting social and economic effects of decades of violence.
In neighborhoods like Olas II, young people often grow up facing limited opportunities and environments where instability and tension remain part of daily life. Programs that create safe spaces and offer mentorship help open up alternatives to that type of instability.
Football offers a powerful entry point. The sport is deeply embedded in Colombian culture, with research showing that 94 percent of Colombians consider football important to the nation. That shared passion creates opportunities for young people to come together and practice cooperation and respectful communication.
Learning Peace Through Sport
Positive Peace Champions combines football training with interactive life skills workshops. Participants explore themes such as emotional awareness and teamwork while taking part in regular sport sessions.
The curriculum draws on the concept of Positive Peace, a framework developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a global research organization that studies the drivers of peace and conflict.
Rather than focusing only on preventing violence, Positive Peace looks at the conditions that help communities thrive. The framework highlights factors such as trust, inclusive institutions and equitable access to opportunity as building blocks for lasting peace.
For young people in Bucaramanga, these ideas take shape through practical activities that mirror the game’s dynamic. Discussions and exercises connect directly to what happens on the pitch: how players communicate, how disagreements are resolved during a match and how teams succeed when individuals support one another.
Over time, they begin to recognize how those same skills apply beyond sport, shaping interactions at school, at home and in their neighborhood.
From Personal Skills to Community Leadership
As participants spend more time in the program, the focus begins to shift from individual development to how those skills can be applied in everyday life.
Workshops encourage young people to reflect on the challenges they see in their own neighborhoods, from tensions between peers to barriers that make it harder for young people to feel connected to their communities. These conversations are rooted in the principles of Positive Peace, which emphasize building trust, opportunity and stronger relationships within communities.
From there, participants begin shaping their own ideas for change. In the final stage of the program, they design small community initiatives that draw on the lessons explored during training.
The project is designed as a three-year initiative, giving participants time to build confidence, test their ideas and begin putting them into practice beyond the football pitch.
Looking Ahead
The goal of Positive Peace Champions is not simply to teach new skills during weekly training sessions, but to help young people apply those lessons in their own communities.
As participants progress through the program, they begin identifying challenges in their neighborhoods and developing ideas for how they might respond.
In Bucaramanga, the football pitch is the starting point. From there, the hope is that the lessons learned in training continue to shape how these young people lead, organize and strengthen their communities.
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