TITLE: ORIUNITE – Orienteering, Uniting Nations in Interactive Team Efforts
DATES: 01/01/25 – 31/12/27
IMPORTANT LINKS: Website – Facebook – Instagram
PARTNERS:
1. SYLLOGOS OREIVASIAS KAI AGONISTIKOU PROSANATOLISMOU ORIENTACTION, Cyprus – Coordinator
2. SIBARIS KORNYEZETVEDELMI ES SPORT EGYESULET, Hungary – Partner
3. CROATIAN ORIENTEERING FEDERATION, Croatia – Partner
4. L’ORMA SSD ARL, Italy – Partner
5. LANDESSPORTBUND BERLIN e.V., Germany – Partner
6. IMPACT WAVE COMMUNICATION (IWC), Italy – Partner
7. NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR SPORT AND RECREATION IN FEDERATION (SZSR), Bosnia and Herzegovina – Partner
DESCRIPTION
“ORIUNITE – Orienteering, Uniting Nations in Interactive Team Efforts” is an Erasmus+ Sport project that uses the sport of orienteering to bring together young people from communities divided by conflict, helping them overcome historical divides and work towards reconciliation.
Drawing on the symbolic power of orienteering — navigating through obstacles toward a common goal — ORIUNITE engages youth from conflict-affected regions in meaningful, cooperative experiences. Participants come together to map shared spaces, take part in joint training sessions, and exchange cultural traditions, fostering empathy, respect, and mutual understanding along the way.
Rooted in inclusion and sustainability, the project demonstrates how sport can transform divisions into connections, helping communities move past entrenched animosities and build a brighter, shared future.
Activities include the creation of unified orienteering maps in historically divided cities such as Nicosia (Cyprus), Berlin (Germany), Mostar and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gorizia–Nova Gorica (Italy/Slovenia), Őrség (Hungary/Austria/Slovenia), and Dragonja (Croatia/Slovenia). These maps form the basis for orienteering courses and competitions that symbolically and physically cross the lines of division, uniting participants through teamwork and shared experience.
The project also organizes workshops in schools and youth centers, cultural events, awareness campaigns, and a documentary that captures the journey of the participants as they navigate both the terrain and the challenges of reconciliation.
By empowering young people as agents of change, ORIUNITE aspires to inspire similar initiatives across Europe and beyond — proving that through the paths of orienteering, we can navigate toward unity, understanding, and peace.
“Let every step taken in the forest be a stride toward reconciliation and cooperation, showing the world the transformative power of sport.”
