2008 UN Sport for Peace and Development Ministerial Conference 
On the eve of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, government ministries from around the world gathered with UN Special Advisor on Sport for Peace and Development, Mr. Wilfred Lemke (above left), and President/CEO of the international humanitarian organization Right to Play, Mr. Johann Olav Koss (above right), to discuss the progress of various sports-based initiatives and the potential for sport to assist governments in areas of global/social unrest. In leading up to the event, we had been following Right to Play's work and witnessed their groundbreaking sports-based humanitarian projects in the East Asian region. A few months prior to the conference, Hope 81 Founder Jason Hutson approached Right to Play about the possibility of taking part in the Ministerial Conference as an academic intern. With Hutson's research as a Rotary World Peace Fellow focused on the potential for sport to serve as a tool for conflict transformation in East Asian communities, Right to Play provided a special invitation for him to attend the prestigious event. And with no government officials from Japan or Korea in attendance, this was a rare and important opportunity to raise a voice for East Asian civil society during the Q & A press session. Not to mention, a great chance to introduce our grassroots Hope 81 projects to potential collaborators/government/non-governmental agencies during the reception.

Below is a list of all 38 countries in attendance:

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Benin
4. Brazil
5. Burundi
6. Canada
7. China
8. Colombia
9. Ireland
10. Israel
11. Jordan
12. Kenya
13. Liberia
14. Malawi
15. Mali
16. Mexico
17. Mozambique
18. Namibia
19. Netherlands
20. Niger
21. Nigeria
22. Norway
23. Occupied Palestinian
Territory
24. Pakistan
25. Papua New Guinea
26. Peru
27. Rwanda
28. Samoa
29. Sierra Leone
30. South Africa
31. Sudan
32. Switzerland
33. Tanzania
34. Uganda
35. United Kingdom
36. United States
37. Zambia
38. Zimbabwe

While we were unable to break new ground for East Asian relations in particular (our YSA project made up for that!) it was here at the conference that we first met with Papua New Guinea's Minister of Sport & Community Development, Honorable Dame Carol Kidu (pictured above left). As Hutson surveyed the floor, looking for prospective countries to partner with for his new 'Hope 81 Sportswear Donation' campaign, Dame Kidu stepped forward with excitement about the possibility of providing relief to PNG youth through a new sports-based effort from Tokyo. After a verbal agreement was made to begin growing a new PNG campaign, Hope 81 spent the next year collecting hundreds of new and used sportswear items from our Tokyo-based athletes, sporting goods stores and surrounding community members. To learn more about our first donation to PNG's Western Province of Daru-Kiunga, view our project overview here.

During the conference reception, we were also very fortunate to meet with Ms. Kelly Lau, Nike China's Corporate Social Responsibility Director. Her knowledge of grassroots sports networks in the region and background in the nonprofit sector made for a very interesting and enlightening discussion. Since then, we've continued to stay in touch and build more constructive dialogue about new sports-focused CSR projects in the region. Ms. Lau's input has been very helpful, in growing our Hope 81 vision. We owe a great deal of thanks to Right to Play, Dame Kidu and Kelly Lau for their continued support!

Now, what did we learn from our first UN Ministerial Conference? Well, many questions we had going in went unanswered; especially those concerning the potential power of sport to assist East Asia's ongoing struggles with post-war reconciliation. The best answer we received was to "read the book" (referring to the Recommendations to Governments publication released in tandem with the conference). And read it, we certainly did! Perhaps if Right to Play would consider translating the materials into Japanese and Korean, our top-level government officials, policy networks and subnetworks would then begin to read it, too. Until then, more grassroots efforts from below with our growing Hope 81 community of athletes, artists and activists...

For more information about the UN Ministerial Conference and Right to Play's recent publication Harnessing the Power of Sport for Development and Peace: Recommendations to Governments, visit the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group homepage http://iwg.sportanddev.org/en/index.htm