The Northwestern Departmental Directorate of Haiti’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action (DDNO/MJSAC) has officially inaugurated the 2026 U-15 and U-20 inter-school athletic championships this week. The ceremonial launch event was conducted at the administrative complex housing the DDNO/MJSAC, drawing significant attendance from government officials, educational administrators, sports coordinators, parents, and enthusiastic community members supporting young athletic talent.
Scheduled to commence on February 26, 2026, at Parc Capois-la-mort, the competitions will feature sixteen educational institutions partitioned into four competitive groups. The games are designed to showcase the athletic potential of Northwestern Haiti’s youth while promoting physical education as a developmental tool.
During the opening ceremony, Destima Raymond Fedner, Northwestern Departmental Director of MJSAC, delivered an address emphasizing school sports’ critical role as a mechanism for community development, social unity, and talent identification. He articulated that the government’s dedication to encouraging athletic participation from early ages is now materializing, aiming to cultivate a generation that is healthy, active, and socially responsible.
The Ministry has endorsed this initiative as aligning with the classical principle ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ (a sound mind in a sound body), attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal. This initiative reinforces the Ministry’s strategic vision to establish sports as a fundamental component of regional development—serving as both a catalyst for social integration and a medium for fostering peace, educational growth, and camaraderie among the department’s schools.