You can learn more about this global grassroots effort at http://www.playsoccer-nonprofit.org/2009invitation.html. We have provided an excerpt below.

(Excerpt)

The Global Peace Games for Children and Youth are an annual event that takes place at the grassroots level in communities in all parts of the world through the initiative of civil society.

The Games are locally planned and financed community events. They feature friendly soccer matches and/or other sporting events along with educational presentations, music, art, dance or poetry around themes dedicated to the objectives of the United Nations for peace, nonviolence and human development. The Games seek to develop the leadership skills and individual responsibility of children and youth, and to help them learn how through sport and ordinary daily life actions and decisions, they can make the world a better place for all. They demonstrate the solidarity and commitment that sport can create among children, youth and communities for this purpose.

The themes of the Games support the goals of the United Nations, which proclaimed the children of the world as the central focus of the 2001-2010 International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. They educate about and show support for peaceful solutions, and aim to build global friendship and understanding, consistent with the objective of the United Nations International Day of Peace. They support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals that seek to improve human life through eight development priorities:

• reduction of poverty and hunger
• achievement of universal primary education
• promotion of gender equality
• reduction of child mortality
• improvement of maternal health
• reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
• environmental sustainability
• development of a global partnership for development.

Who Can Take Part in the Games?
Participation in the Games is free and open to all who wish to take part. Communities, civil society organizations and governments are invited to organize and enjoy the games and events in their own countries and locations, limited only by their own local constraints of financing, organizing and planning capacity. Different organizations can hold multiple Games in the same country at different sites. Participating communities and organizations select their own sites.

(You can find the rest of the text at http://www.playsoccer-nonprofit.org/2009invitation.html)