Apart from helping an individual in their physical aspect, sport helps in building character, shaping leadership skills and helps in developing strategic and analytical thinking among other virtues.

It is for that reason that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Uganda in collaboration with Soltilo Bright Stars (SBS) FC and Japanese NGO Terra Renaissance, held football classes for refugees (boys and girls aged 12-19) and host communities in Pagirinya refugee settlement in Eastern Adjumani in Northern Uganda on Saturday, to give them hope that they can also make it through sport.

The partnership with Bright Stars is also intended to promote international cooperation through sports and develop activities that give hope to Ugandans, especially refugee children, children in host communities, surrounding communities and youth from slums.

Close to 100 children of both genders enjoyed the drills conducted by Bright Stars FC players Methodius Jungu, Derrick Were, and Alfred Onek at Tandala Primary School ground.

JICA’s Uchiyama Takayuki talks to some of the children that participated in the football classes. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

The training was a precursor, ahead of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Cup Uganda Women's Football Tournament, which is part of the activities to be held in Jinja on August 8 this year. A girl’s refugee team from Adjumani will be one of the teams to compete in the championship.

TICAD is an international conference, which takes place every three years, bringing together African nations, international organisations, private sector, and civil society for the development of Africa.

It was launched in 1993 by the Japanese government and has since been organized in collaboration with the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the World Bank. This year’s conference themed Towards a Resilient, Inclusive, and Prosperous Africa will take place in Tunisia.

The JICA Uganda office chief representative, Uchiyama Takayuki, who other staff members accompanied, said the training is intended to lay a foundation for a bright football future for the participants.

Bright Stars' Derrick Were conducts a training session with some of the girls. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

“We believe through sports people can learn the importance of hard work, have big dreams and learn to work together. So, we are promoting sport for a better future for this country and for the young generation and what we are doing is to accelerate their dreams,” Takayuki said.

“Sport will be one of the components of African development so we decided to organize this sports event to align with the TICAD event but we want to ensure these refugees benefit from the power of sport,” Takayuki stated.

The event was also attended by a representative from the office of the Prime Minister who is also the Refugee Desk Officer Titus Jogo and UNHCR’s Joel Obeta who said they were going to use football to forge peaceful co-existence and social cohesion between the different communities in the settlement.

“We need to embrace football as a tool for talent development and also for livelihood just like many footballers who globally earn from their skills and also as a tool for creating cohesion,” Obeta noted.

Bright Stars' Methodius Jungu (right) conducts a training session with some of the boys. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

The president of the Pagirinya Refugees Football Association (PRFA) Richard Makpwe Anzo said football activities in the settlement were going on very well and have a number of players playing for the 18 different teams in the settlement.

“We organise galas and tournaments for them and we are doing great in this area of sports. We are grateful JICA has come and we believe by the time they leave our players will have acquired the proper skills of playing good football,” Anzo stated.

In October 2021, JICA and Soltilo Bright Stars signed a partnership to promote JICA’s ‘Sport for All’, Sport and Development agenda.

This was to promote international cooperation through sports and develop activities that give hope to Ugandans, especially refugee children, children in host communities, surrounding communities and youth from slums. The football classes and games are part of the activities.

In the recent past, sport has played a vital role in the development and JICA believes that it will inspire youth, foster gender equality, support refugees' lives in Uganda, as well as foster capacity development.