The conference and expo takes place at the Waterfront on 19 September.
The ambassador for the Sanlam Cape Town marathon and Olympian long-distance medallist Elana Meyer, who will be one of the speakers at the conference said: “Since we’re celebrating 20 years as a peaceful democracy and because we’ve witnessed the power of sport to bring previously divided people together, we felt it opportune to not only align the marathon with such a focus but also to jointly hold such a conference.”
The purpose of the Cape Town PEACE Conference and Expo is to create a forum that brings together various stakeholders to discuss how sport can be used as a vehicle to build peaceful communities.
In addition, the initiative puts a strong focus on empowering young people by co-operating with schools, non-governmental organisations and federations to make youth part of other sports and peace-related initiatives, especially in the developing world.
One of the chosen beneficiaries for this year’s marathon is Peace and Sport (L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport), a global initiative under the patronage of Prince Albert of Monaco that uses sport to educate young people affected by extreme poverty, recent conflict or a lack of social cohesion.
Lemke said: “The UN considers sport to be a powerful tool to promote education, health, development and peace. Sport unites people of all social classes, cultures, religions and backgrounds in a positive and educational way.”