Sport for Development

What strategies can be drawn upon to engage young people through sport for development (S4D)? This question animated a PowerPoint presentation delivered at the Regional United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Capacity Building Workshop on Programming for Young People in Istanbul, Turkey.

Presenter Ian MacLeod describes the United Nations (UN)'s definition of sport, which encompasses "all forms of physical activity that contribute to physical fitness, mental wellbeing and social interaction: play, recreation, casual, organized or competitive sport, and indigenous sports or games". As elucidated within many UN resolutions since 2003, sport can be a means to promote education, health, development, and peace. For instance, the 2012 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution discusses sport-based initiatives as a means to promote greater awareness and action to foster peace and accelerate the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This reflects, per MacLeod, the acknowledgement of sport as: a child's right; the foundation for healthy development; and a means of increasing active citizenship, participation, and inclusion amongst children and youth. This is evident, for example, in conflict situations and humanitarian emergencies, where sport can promote a safe environment to teach young people how to resolve differences and restore normalcy in times of stress. Through sport, they can learn values such as respect, teamwork, self-esteem, communication, and discipline.

MacLeod discusses S4D endeavours carried out by the UN between 2007 and 2009 around the world. Most programmes addressed education, life skills, HIV/AIDS, and child protection amongst 8- to 14-year-olds, with the largest proportion being in eastern and southern Africa. However, MacLeod highlighted that, whilst sport has been demonstrated to be a highly beneficial tool to support individual and collective development outcomes or young people, there have been limited S4D initiatives in the Arab States, Middle East, and North Africa (MENA) which have focused on young people and youth. Most of the initiatives supported by the UN in these regions have been designed for children and young adolescents.

MacLeod shares three main strategic options for mainstreaming of S4D into UN development programming:

1. Sport and play as the objective: example: in the aftermath of the massive 2010 floods, the UN partners worked in over 2,000 internally displaced person (IDP) camps to give children safe places to play.
2. Using sport as the direct vehicle for other development objectives: example: in Namibia, the 'Galz and Goals' programme of the national football association, which is supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), reaches out to young women through football, focusing on developing life skills and creating a supportive environment to help girls adopt risk-reduction behaviours.
3. Integrating sport into broader development programming: example: in Mozambique, the UN has supported the government to increase school enrolment and attendance through multiple strategies, including sports and physical education.

The session aimed to remind participants of the potential of S4D in young people-centred programming in Arab States/MENA. In a plenary discussion, the participants agreed that even in many conservative cultures in the region, S4D was appropriate and acceptable as a strategy for supporting young people's health and development, and that its potential was highly underutilised.