Norway to promote peace and development through culture, sports

Norway launched a programme on Friday to support culture and sports in developing countries, especially among people in conflict zones such as Africa's Great Lakes region. "If any organisation could come up with a good project aimed at bringing together the different factions through artistic exchanges and performances then we would finance that project," Randi Bendiksen, a special adviser in the Foreign Ministry's Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department, told IRIN on Friday from Oslo. One aim of the Strategy for International Cultural and Sports Cooperation, which was officially launched on Friday at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris, is to enhance mental health and promote peace and reconciliation. Cultural projects would include the building of cultural centres, funding cultural performances and offering cultural exchange programmes, Bendiksen said. Norway would also seek to introduce sports as a component in development cooperation. "We want to integrate sports into primary education as it has proved to be an efficient tool for reconciliation," Bendiksen said. The programme will have a budget of 160 million Norwegian Kroner (US $24 million), to be managed by UNESCO as well as Norwegian embassies and partner organizations. Bendiksen said Norway would seek to support projects in Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda, as well as in other African, Asian and South American countries.