Serving as Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace is a tremendous joy and honor. Having a background in professional football, it is a new and rewarding challenge to harness the power of sport for social progress – namely, for accelerating development and peace throughout the world. My engagement in the world of sport and politics for the past 25 years provides me with a wealth of experience from which I can draw ideas to facilitate the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. To be certain, achieving this goal is of the highest priority to the United Nations family.
The aim of this website is to provide information on current events, interviews, articles, UN Missions, media-services as well as a rudimentary history of my working life and engagements.
Please feel free to leave a message, offer feedback, or share your views in the comment-space provided.
Yours truly,
PRESS CONTACT
United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace
Villa La Pelouse Palais des Nations CH - 1211 Geneva 10
Tel : 0041 (0) 22 917 47 12
FUTURE EVENTS
MONDAY 30 AUGUST 2010 9.30 AM ‚Lectures at University of Western Cape, South Africa‘
During his next stay in South Africa, Wilfried Lemke will give two lectures at the University of Western Cape. The first lecture, to take place on 30 August at 9.30 AM, will be on the "UN, the MDGs, and other areas of focus". The second lecture, to take place on 31 August at 10.30 AM, is entitled "From grassroot projects to the world stage".
TUESDAY 26 OCTOBER 2010 ‚Ein Bolzplatz fuer Bouake: Upcoming book presentations and readings‘
In March the DVA publishing house released Wilfried Lemkes first book Ein Bolzplatz für Bouaké. Wie der Sport die Welt verändert und warum ich mich stark mache für die Schwachen. He reports on his experiences of the past two years in his function as United Nations Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, and tells about touching, dramatic andpromising encounters and developments throughout the world. One of these achievements is the building of a football field in the West African city of Bouaké, which is used by UN blue helmets and former rebels to play football peacefully, instead of shooting each other.
Günter Grass, Nobel prize laureate of the year 1999, praised the book in a personal letter to the author. "Wilfried Lemke manages to open up the reader`s global view", he writes. "From early on bound to sports, he makes it a duty for himself to create possibilities for children and youths - especially in Africa - to try out challenges, while keeping fairness and tolerance. Untiring he reports about peaceable adventures created by sports, and lets us take part in his unremitting efforts."
30 AUGUST 2010 