We have been running football for social cohesion programmes in the UK since 2014.

Eric Murangwa Eugene regularly participates in training sessions, events and conferences exploring the role of football in building peace and bridging division.

We also currently run two of our own programmes.

Play2Remember is an annual football tournament with a social goal; to remember genocide survivors while promoting reconciliation and togetherness through sport. Established in 2014 by Football for Hope, Peace and Unity (now part of the Ishami Foundation) in collaboration with several community outreach groups and their supporters, Play2Remember provides a chance for survivors of genocide and mass atrocities, to get together in a spirit of commemoration and hope.

The fourth annual renewal of London Play2Remember took place on April 15th, 2018. We once again partnered with Waging Peace, to bring together over 300 people celebrating diversity, equality, and peace building. We were also joined by Football4Peace volunteers from The University of Brighton who demonstrated their values based coaching methods promoting peace-building techniques through football and participated in the event as referees.

Together, we continue to celebrate survivors, and to remember both the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the genocide in Darfur, now entering its 16th year, and other ongoing human rights violations in Sudan. This year we were also privileged to be joined by a local community team from Grenfell Tower, less than one mile from our venue, where 71 people lost their lives in a fire less than a year ago. Many of the people living in Grenfell were migrants who came to the UK believing it to be a place that would offer sanctuary.

Local and national media came to see how we use sport as a tool to raise awareness of mass atrocities and to unite diverse communities. Read our full report about the event on our blog.

Team Rwanda UK is a London youth club, established by FHPU, that uses the power of football to encourage teamwork, develop conflict prevention skills and fight prejudice, intolerance and hatred in the community. The team places great emphasis on educating participants about the importance of unity and reconciliation in the cause of Rwandan national unity and on promoting the values of fair play, team spirit, discipline, understanding, tolerance and respect.

In 2014 FHPU introduced the One Game, One Goal, One Community project, a weekly football session that provided young people in London with the opportunity to interact and discuss community issues. Many of these young people have since become key players in matters important to their communities and beyond, with a number of them returning home to Rwanda to play a direct role in the process of post-genocide reconstruction and sustainable development.

The Team Rwanda UK programme is currently undergoing a review. Activities will resume in due course.