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| Image taken from the www.un.org website (2014) |
'Sport has a unique power to attract, mobilize and inspire. By its very nature, sport is about participation. It is about inclusion and citizenship. It stands for human values such as respect for the opponent, acceptance of binding rules, teamwork and fairness, all of which are principles which are also contained in the Charter of the United Nations.'
-via the 'Sport for Development and Peace' office, on the United Nations website (2014)
I wanted to start this blog with a brief introduction on how I have come to interpret the policies and practice of sport development. That is, how sport actually fits with development, and indeed what exactly this 'development business' covers.
When we refer to Sport Development, are we talking about development or progression of the field of sport itself, or are we talking about somehow leveraging sport to bring some kind of humanitarian development? My answer? It's always both.
Observers from outside the wider social service and sport spheres can view sports development work as being simply developing 'sport for sports sake', after all, is it not the task of the sports developer to try and enable more sport, in more places, to more people, reaching wider demographics? The answer is yes, but a better question would be, 'Why is it important for people to do sport anyway?'.
It makes a great deal of sense that NGB's (National Governing Bodies) of Sports work primarily to expand and further their own sports, even indeed driving up participation for the sake of participation numbers and their funders. This behaviour fits nicely with the 'sports for sports sake' view of sport development, and would be significant should sports development work be undertaken on the whole by those with a vested interest in the spread and success of sport. But this isn't the case.
The delivery of Sport Development is concerned less about the sport itself, and more about its use as a vehicle for wider ranging humanitarian outcomes. Don't believe me? Can I back up this up with facts? Fine, and later absolutely, but within this post - no. Some case studies to whet your appetite are below, and I'll be returning to these and others in future posts to make my case and showcase some excellent development work in action.
Quick case studies
First Paralympic games, Stoke Mandeville spinal unit (1948)
The Paralympic games were always about equality within sporting participation, right?
"Guttman introduced sport into the lives of his patients as a way to encourage competitiveness and independence, preparing them for life in the outside world, and the Stoke Mandeville Games soon became an annual - and then international - event for athletes in wheelchairs." - as seen in The Guardian (2012)
United Nations system organisations using sport
Over 20 offices and initiatives within the United Nations system employ sport to meet their development outcomes.
More info on the United Nations website.
We've already talked around the potential for sport to be put to work in achieving positive humanitarian outcomes, but what is a starting point for looking at what these are?
The United Nations Millenium Development goals were unsurprisingly set in the year 2000 with a deadline of 2015, by which to achieve important social outcomes. Have a read of the goals below first, and try to think where sport can contribute, then scroll down to see the solutions presented by the 'Sport for Development and Peace' office of the UN. The declared ability of sport to serve MDG outcomes such as 'Reduce child mortality' are powerful and thought provoking.
UN Millenium Development goals
-via the 'Sport for Development and Peace' office, on the United Nations website (2014)
I wanted to start this blog with a brief introduction on how I have come to interpret the policies and practice of sport development. That is, how sport actually fits with development, and indeed what exactly this 'development business' covers.
What is Sport Development?
When we refer to Sport Development, are we talking about development or progression of the field of sport itself, or are we talking about somehow leveraging sport to bring some kind of humanitarian development? My answer? It's always both.
Observers from outside the wider social service and sport spheres can view sports development work as being simply developing 'sport for sports sake', after all, is it not the task of the sports developer to try and enable more sport, in more places, to more people, reaching wider demographics? The answer is yes, but a better question would be, 'Why is it important for people to do sport anyway?'.
It makes a great deal of sense that NGB's (National Governing Bodies) of Sports work primarily to expand and further their own sports, even indeed driving up participation for the sake of participation numbers and their funders. This behaviour fits nicely with the 'sports for sports sake' view of sport development, and would be significant should sports development work be undertaken on the whole by those with a vested interest in the spread and success of sport. But this isn't the case.
The delivery of Sport Development is concerned less about the sport itself, and more about its use as a vehicle for wider ranging humanitarian outcomes. Don't believe me? Can I back up this up with facts? Fine, and later absolutely, but within this post - no. Some case studies to whet your appetite are below, and I'll be returning to these and others in future posts to make my case and showcase some excellent development work in action.
Quick case studies
First Paralympic games, Stoke Mandeville spinal unit (1948)
The Paralympic games were always about equality within sporting participation, right?
"Guttman introduced sport into the lives of his patients as a way to encourage competitiveness and independence, preparing them for life in the outside world, and the Stoke Mandeville Games soon became an annual - and then international - event for athletes in wheelchairs." - as seen in The Guardian (2012)
United Nations system organisations using sport
Over 20 offices and initiatives within the United Nations system employ sport to meet their development outcomes.
More info on the United Nations website.
Sport Development for change?
We've already talked around the potential for sport to be put to work in achieving positive humanitarian outcomes, but what is a starting point for looking at what these are?
The United Nations Millenium Development goals were unsurprisingly set in the year 2000 with a deadline of 2015, by which to achieve important social outcomes. Have a read of the goals below first, and try to think where sport can contribute, then scroll down to see the solutions presented by the 'Sport for Development and Peace' office of the UN. The declared ability of sport to serve MDG outcomes such as 'Reduce child mortality' are powerful and thought provoking.
UN Millenium Development goals
- To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- To achieve universal primary education
- To promote gender equality and empower women
- To reduce child mortality
- To improve maternal health
- To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
- To ensure environmental sustainability
- To develop a global partnership for development
UN Millenium Development goals mapped to sport related interventions and development.
- Participants, volunteers and coaches acquire transferable life skills which increase their employability
- Vulnerable individuals are connected to community services and supports through sport-based outreach programs
- Sport programs and sport equipment production provide jobs and skills development
- Sport can help prevent diseases that impede people from working and impose health care costs on individuals and communities
- Sport can help reduce stigma and increase self-esteem, self-confidence and social skills, leading to increased employability
- School sport programs motivate children to enroll in and attend school and can help improve academic achievement
- Sport-based community education programs provide alternative education opportunities for children who cannot attend school
- Sport can help erode stigma preventing children with disabilities from attending school
- Sport helps improve female physical and mental health and offers opportunities for social interaction and friendship
- Sport participation leads to increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and enhanced sense of control over one’s body
- Girls and women access leadership opportunities and experience
- Sport can cause positive shifts in gender norms that afford girls and women greater safety and control over their lives
- Women and girls with disabilities are empowered by sport-based opportunities to acquire health information, skills, social networks, and leadership experience
- Sport can be used to educate and deliver health information to young mothers, resulting in healthier children
- Increased physical fitness improves children’s resistance to some diseases
- Sport can help reduce the rate of higher-risk adolescent pregnancies
- Sport-based vaccination and prevention campaigns help reduce child deaths and disability from measles, malaria and polio
- Inclusive sport programs help lower the likelihood of infanticide by promoting greater acceptance of children with disabilities
- Sport for health programs offer girls and women greater access to reproductive health information and services
- Increased fitness levels help speed post-natal recovery
- Sport programs can be used to reduce stigma and increase social and economic integration of people living with HIV and AIDS
- Sport programs are associated with lower rates of health risk behaviour that contributes to HIV infection
- Programs providing HIV prevention education and empowerment can further reduce HIV infection rates
- Sport can be used to increase measles, polio and other vaccination rates
- Involvement of celebrity athletes and use of mass sport events can increase reach and impact of malaria, tuberculosis and other education and prevention campaigns
- Sport-based public education campaigns can raise awareness of importance of environmental protection and sustainability
- Sport-based social mobilization initiatives can enhance participation in community action to improve local environment
- Sport for Development and Peace efforts catalyze global partnerships and increase networking among governments, donors, NGOs and sport organizations worldwide
Bibliography
United Nations (2014) Contribution of Sport to Millenium Development Goals [Online] Avaliable from http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sport/home/sport/sportandmdgs [Accessed: 1st September 2014]
The Guardian (2012) History of the Paralympics [Online] Available from
http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2012/aug/30/archive-history-of-the-paralympics [Accessed: 1st September 2014]
United Nations (2014) Why Sport? [Online] Available from:
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sport/home/sport [Accessed: 1st September 2014]
