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The Commonwealth Sport & Post-2015 Forum brought together key international stakeholders in sport and development to discuss the contribution of sport-based approaches to the global development agenda.

How can we maximise the contribution of sport-based approaches to the global development agenda?

This was one of the critical issues deliberated over at the Commonwealth Sport and Post-2015 Forum, hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat on 25-26 June, in London.


Although sport is not explicitly referenced in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the potential contribution of sport to delivery of the SDGs is highlighted in the Zero draft of the outcome document for the UN Summit to adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda:

“We recognise the intrinsic value of diversity, culture and sport as enablers of sustainable development.”

The Commonwealth Sport and Post-2015 Forum underscored the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals provide an important framework and reference point for sport and development stakeholders working to contribute to global development efforts.

The forum brought together senior policy makers, practitioners and academics who agreed that, if delivered effectively, sport-based approaches could be utilised as cost effective and valuable tools in efforts to deliver a range of the 17 proposed SDGs.

Forum attendees quantified that in some goal areas (such as goal 3 on health), this contribution will be stronger, whilst in other cases (goal 11 on sustainable cities and settlements, for example), the use of sports based interventions would be supportive and complimentary to other approaches. Participants emphasised the importance of sport and development stakeholders articulating the contribution sport can make in measured terms and, in recognising the need for further scaled evidence in the field, the need to correlate programme and project indicators with the SDG indicators framework when agreed.

Participants at the forum included representatives of the governments of Ghana, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Germany; intergovernmental organisations UNESCO and UNICEF; sporting federations including the Commonwealth Games Federation; Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) NGOs; and academics from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.

Participants at the forum analysed the particular contribution sport can make to proposed SDGs relating to health and wellbeing (goal 3), education (goal 4), gender equality (goal 5), economic growth and employment (goal 8), sustainable cities and human settlements (goal 11), and peaceful and inclusive societies (goal 16).

The Commonwealth Secretariat committed to taking forward work in this area, with the intention of producing guidance for Commonwealth member governments on maximising the contribution sport can make to identified SDGs. The forum challenged other sport and SDP stakeholders to intensify preparations to contribute to the Post-2015 Development Agenda, individually and collectively, with sportanddev.org proposed as a platform for wider discussion amongst practitioners and grassroots SDP organisations.
 
[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]

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