We Can Make A Difference

Big Lottery Fund grant will help spread the Fight For Peace method across the country.

- John Dennen

BOXING, we know, is a tough, intense and at times risky combat sport. But it’s not an act of violence. It is controlled, regulated and takes place both under a set of rules and an understanding of the conduct required. The sport in fact helps reduce violence. Not in isolation but as a part of an overall programme it can play a role. That is the real, observable experience of the charity Fight For Peace. There are five pillars to the Fight For Peace method; training in boxing or combat sport, education, employability, support services and leadership.

James Baderman, their head of programmes, explained, “So young people don’t come in and just do sport. They come in because they want to do combat sports but then we layer all of those different activities around the sport. So the public health approach is about being holistic, it’s about targeting those who are living in communities that have difficulties with violence but who will probably never get involved, so having preventative measures. It’s about working with those who face multiple risk factors, that’s what we would call intervention approaches and then there are rehabilitation approaches for those who are heavily involved and they’re much more intensive and complicated.”