At the end of June 2025, in the Comoros, sports fields were transformed into mixed meeting and inclusion spaces. There, diversity n'didn't stay thata slogan: it was played, shared and experienced. Account of some stages of the mission carried out by the Chancegal association team as part of its project " Let’s dare to be diverse in the Indian Ocean" .
Land that tells the story of diversity
In Moroni, the ball bounces on the turquoise surface of a basketball court, whose white lines here create a simple framework: people run, laugh, and learn to work as a team. From the sidelines, a young player adjusts her kit, catches the pass, and takes off. On another court, green and yellow jerseys line up in front of the handball goals for a group photo; people jostle gently, crouch, and get up. Elsewhere, table tennis brings people together, and laughter rises when the ball hits the net. The settings change, but the essentials remain: girls and boys share the same game, in a spirit of equality and without hierarchical considerations, showing that diversity is possible and beneficial.
With the project “Let’s dare diversity in the Indian Ocean” led by the Reunion association Chancegal1, The results are measured in particular in the actions of the young players: a high five, a knowing look, an encouragement or a pass given without hesitation. They are also appreciated by the active commitment and energy of the Comorian partner clubs and federations, which make it possible to bring these meetings to life and to bring diversity to life in action.
Photo credits: Chancegal
Sport, a mirror and engine of inclusion
On a field, the usual order of the world shifts. Codes jostle and roles are redistributed at the speed of a dribble: the smallest becomes leader, a beginner dares to referee, a captain circulates the word before passing the ball. We judge each other less, we coordinate more. diversity in sport, in the Comoros as elsewhere, does not erase differences: it teaches to make them a strength.
Where stereotypes sometimes close doors, practice opens a path. The successful pass, the point scored, the shared effort create a common language. Carrying positive values of openness and equality, diversity says something about our ability to live togetherMoroni's photos do not show "beneficiaries", they show partners and stakeholders in the world of sport: young people, supervisors, clubs, federations and referees who take the "risk" of equality and discover that it makes everyone grow.
Train to transform: at the coach's level
Behind each game sequence, there is also an educational choice: how to compose mixed teams? How to give confidence to a beginner without holding back an experienced player? How to referee with kindness without sacrificing the requirements? Chancegal's animation of a workshop of co-construction a mixed sports session brought together several dozen supervisors and managers in the sports sectorThe shared conclusion can be summed up in a few words: diversity is not a constraint to be managed, it is a richer learning environment. It requires tools, yes; above all, it offers visible progress: more listening, more mutual support, more autonomy. Training supervisory staff is give duration to what would otherwise remain a beautiful moment.
Regional cooperation: when land becomes a place of exchange
What these meetings tell goes beyond the simple domain of sport; we observe a real dynamic of regional cooperation which is woven at human level, from Reunion to the Comoros, passing through Madagascar and Mauritius, other partner countries for this project.
Supported in Reunion by theAFCAM2 , L'INSPE3 , there DRAGONS4, and the Reunion Region, the project " Let's dare to try mixed sports in the Indian Ocean » shows how a sports field can become a space for dialogue between cultures, institutions, professionals and generations. This field diplomacy has its rules: concrete commitments, regular meetings, practices adapted to the context. This is precisely where the program COREOM – Overseas Regional Cooperation finds its place: not to do for or in place of, but give scope to what emerges locally – make visible, connect, structure, perpetuate.
What we take away from Moroni
The images that emerge from these fields remain: a handshake at the edge of the circle, a captain who encourages more than she scolds, young people posing together, proud, in front of the handball goal, the late afternoon light on the jerseys, and this discreet feeling that something has moved. diversity no longer appears as an idea to be defended, but as a experience to be repeated – because it works, because it brings people together, because it prepares for a fairer society. We also take away one certainty: inclusion is not achieved by decree, it is made by practice, session after session, with clubs that open, supervisors who dare, institutions that support.
- Chancegal's mission was made possible thanks to the COSIC (Comoros Islands Olympic and Sports Committee), to theAFD Moroni, to theFrench Embassy and to theRéunion Region branchIt is part of the COREOM program, implemented by La Guilde with the support of theAFD and of the Foundation of FranceBut the momentum belongs first and foremost to the clubs and teams who played, refereed, trained, and gave substance to an obvious fact: playing together is already learning to live togetherThe next victory is not a score: it is a habit that is established. ↩︎
- French Association of Multi-Sports Referees ↩︎
- National Higher Institute of Teaching and Education ↩︎
- Regional Academic Delegation for Youth, Engagement and Sports ↩︎