Sport has the power to bring people together, build trust, strengthen communities, and create lasting pathways to peace.
On 9 August 2026, this spirit came alive at Ndurarua Stadium in Dagoretti South as the Gakami Mustard Seed Foundation (GMSF) brought communities together for the culmination of the Women Peace Tournament 2026/2027 – Nairobi West Sub-Region Peace Cup.
Organised by GMSF with the support of the Community Relations Foundation (CRF) and Friends of the Foundation, the tournament demonstrated how sport can go beyond competition to become a powerful platform for peacebuilding, women’s empowerment, community engagement, social cohesion, and positive well-being.
Building Peace Through Community Policing
Community policing is built on relationships. It recognises that creating safer communities requires more than responding to crime; it requires trust, dialogue, cooperation, and shared responsibility between communities and those entrusted with their safety.
The Women Peace Tournament provided an opportunity to put these principles into action.
Through football and community engagement, women and residents from across the Nairobi West Sub-Region came together in an environment that encouraged interaction, teamwork, friendship, healthy competition, and dialogue.
The initiative was spearheaded by Dr. Margaret Gakami, ASP, Administration Police Sub-County Commander for Dagoretti South and Founder of the Gakami Mustard Seed Foundation.
Her leadership reflects GMSF’s conviction that sustainable peace begins at the community level, where people are empowered to participate actively in creating safer, healthier, and more united neighbourhoods.
Women at the Centre of Peacebuilding
At the heart of the tournament was a simple but important message: women are essential partners in building peaceful and resilient communities.
By creating a platform where women could participate, compete, connect, and demonstrate their talents, the tournament promoted confidence, inclusion, teamwork, physical well-being, and greater participation by women in community development.
The event was graced by Ms. Anne Wang’ombe, Principal Secretary for the State Department of Gender, whose presence highlighted the importance of initiatives that expand opportunities for women and recognise their contribution to peacebuilding and community transformation.
Also in attendance was renowned Kenyan athlete and peace advocate Tegla Loroupe, the first African woman to hold a marathon world record.
Through her peacebuilding work, Loroupe has demonstrated the extraordinary ability of sport to bridge differences and bring communities together around a common purpose. Her participation added a powerful message of inspiration to the tournament and reinforced the role of sport as a vehicle for peace.
Dagoretti North Crowned Champions
The tournament featured spirited competition, teamwork, determination, and an inspiring display of talent from the participating teams.
After a fiercely contested day, Dagoretti North emerged as the champions, lifting the coveted Nairobi West Sub-Region Peace Cup trophy.
The final standings were:
- Dagoretti North – Champions
- Dagoretti South – Second Place
- Westlands – Third Place
- Lang’ata – Fourth Place
While the trophy went to Dagoretti North, the greater victory belonged to every participant and community represented.
The tournament showed that competition can unite rather than divide and that the playing field can become a meeting place where friendships are built, differences are set aside, and communities discover what they can accomplish together.
A Clean Environment for a Peaceful Community
GMSF’s approach to community development recognises that peace, health, environmental conservation, and social well-being are interconnected.
As part of preparations for the tournament, a community clean-up exercise was undertaken to promote environmental responsibility and create a cleaner environment for residents and participants.
The exercise reinforced the Foundation’s commitment to environmental conservation and sustainable community development.
A peaceful community should also be a healthy community. By encouraging residents to take responsibility for their surroundings, GMSF continues to promote a culture in which environmental stewardship forms part of broader community transformation.
Strengthening Police–Community Partnerships
The tournament also demonstrated the value of creating positive spaces where police officers and community members can engage outside conventional policing environments.
Such interactions help break down barriers, strengthen relationships, encourage dialogue, and build the mutual trust necessary for effective community policing.
When communities and security agencies know, understand, and trust one another, they are better positioned to identify challenges early, prevent crime, resolve disputes peacefully, and work together towards common solutions.
Community policing therefore becomes not simply the responsibility of the police, but a shared commitment to safety, peace, dignity, and the well-being of everyone in the community.
More Than a Tournament
For the Gakami Mustard Seed Foundation, the Women Peace Tournament represents something much bigger than football.
It represents women discovering their strength.
It represents communities choosing dialogue over division.
It represents police and citizens building relationships founded on trust.
It represents young people and families seeing sport as a positive avenue for engagement.
And it represents communities recognising that lasting peace is something we must all help build.
Through partnerships with the Community Relations Foundation, Friends of the Foundation, community leaders, government institutions, participants, volunteers, and residents, GMSF continues to demonstrate what can happen when people unite behind a shared vision.
As the Nairobi West Sub-Region Peace Cup comes to a successful conclusion, its message continues beyond Ndurarua Stadium:
Peace is not built by one institution or one individual. It grows when communities come together, build trust, embrace inclusion, protect their environment, and take shared responsibility for one another.
Together, we play for peace.
Together, we strengthen our communities.
Together, we plant the seeds of lasting change.
Small Seeds. Lasting Impact.
