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This year, UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for Eastern Africa alongside the Australian High Commission in Kenya came together to support the Cup, which is almost certainly the longest running youth community sports event in the continent. UNESCO leveraged on its support and participation at the EAC to champion the Fit for Live initiative in the East Africa region. The EAC took place simultaneously with the Seventh International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport (MINEPS VII), which took place in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan, from 26-29 June 2023, where the UNESCO Fit for Life initiative was presented, with the Ministers present committing to the international and national implementation of Fit for Life though:

•    Enhancing capacities for inclusive sport, quality physical education (QPE), and physical activity (PA) policies;

•    Scaling public and private investments into grassroots sport, QPE, and PA.

Drawing 36 teams from Kenya and Tanzania under the categories of 16 and 13 years, with each team comprising 15 male and female players, the event involved competitive and interactive workshops, youth football tournaments, chess tournaments tailored to young people with autism as well as cultural events. The workshops took place in the morning from 8am-10 am, with different parallel sessions facilitated by grassroots organizations leveraging on their expertise and tools for interaction with the participating adolescents and youth. The workshop sessions engaged on a number of topics of pertinent importance to the participating age set, including poverty alleviation, positive use of social media, menstrual hygiene, rules of games, entrepreneurship and production, sexual and gender based violence, transformative masculinity and inter faith dialogue, all aimed towards building their capacities, skills and awareness to become change makers in their respective communities.

During the afternoon, the participating groups were engaged in sports competitions involving teams from grassroots sports organizations constituted around age groups as well as gender, with football as the most unifying activity for healthy confrontation outlining sport values such as team spirit, fair play, respect, non-discrimination, inclusion and others, upheld on the football pitch. Just like in 2022, Chess game featured prominently in the EAC 2023, with dedicated learning and practice classes that involved first time Chess players who acquired the basics of the game and in a record time were able to participate in a demonstration Chess competition.

Alongside these interactive workshops, the EAC also provided a platform for cultural exchange and display of intangible cultural heritage, where the young participants showcased their various cultural dances every evening in a deeply engaging and cross-cultural context.

Fit for Life (F4L), is a UNESCO-led people and society-centered initiative where grassroots sports organizations have an essential role to play to increase participation in sport and to enhance quality physical education, especially among young people. While interacting with the coaches and facilitators at the EAC during a debriefing meeting, Mr. David Onyango, Programme Officer, Social and Human Sciences Sector at UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, proposed an online digital hub modality that aims at connecting grassroots sport stakeholders and organizations with data, practical resources, and providing opportunities to learn and exchange. He pointed out a plan that UNESCO had in mapping

grassroots sports organizations across the East African region and beyond and to create a comprehensive database of organizations and their activities, main challenges, among others. He announced that UNESCO was in the process of organizing a webinar to reflect on the Fit for Life initiative as well as source their ideas on how they could contribute to the implementation of the initiative at the grassroots level. The EAC Secretariat was keen to support this initiative and requested UNESCO to support them in reaching out to more development partners. The organizers are looking forward to having more partners on board to open ways for additional sports and games, including African Traditional Sports and Games in the 2024 Edition.