Home
How can sport contribute to the 2030 Agenda?: Intervention proposal
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/how-can-sport-contribute-2030-agenda-intervention-proposal
Share
 
The URL has been copied
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/how-can-sport-contribute-2030-agenda-intervention-proposal
Share
 
The URL has been copied
soccer
Sport is known for its positive externalities, but scientific evidence is scarce, and errors in the implementation of public policies question their effectiveness. We propose five keys to integrate sport into the 2030 Agenda.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda establishes 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 specific targets that form a medium-term roadmap for national development plans and international development cooperation. Multiple stakeholders are expected to be integrated under these objectives, targets and related indicators. According to the United Nations (UN), sport is a relevant tool to achieve the SDGs. Consequently, in 2017, the UN through UNESCO and the Sixth International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport, MINEPS VI, adopted the Kazan Action Plan, a commitment to link the development of sports policies with the UN 2030 Agenda, and five priority areas for international and national multi-stakeholder cooperation.

While the preamble of the 2030 Agenda recognizes sport as "an important facilitator of sustainable development and peace", none of its objectives directly refer to sport, physical education or physical activity. Therefore, at national and international levels, there is a high risk that SDG-oriented policy interventions in and through sport will be neglected, ineffective and/or insufficiently recognized. This can occur for several reasons. Firstly, sport and development are ambiguous and overused terms. The positive externalities of sport are overestimated and its risks are underestimated; while other related sectors such as leisure, physical education and physical activity are overshadowed by competitive sport. Second, scientific evidence is skeptical in measuring the contribution of sport to generating development, in part, due to the methodological challenges of evaluating the impact of sport on mass populations, or the lack of adequate training and resources. Third, despite all the literature related to sport and development, there is no consensus on what to evaluate (indicators), how to do it (methodology) and where to report it (platform).

Accompanying this express diagnosis, there are five macroenvironment situations that should be considered. First, in Latin America the positivist paradigm predominates in measurement, government reports related to sports are limited to investment and coverage, impacts are rarely quantified, and when they are, the reports lack consistency, the data are unreliable. Second, public policy approaches have historically been top-down approaches, relying on the expertise of public servants who design solutions for populations with historical problems. This blog post ( Hernández, 2021) describes five monumental setbacks of public policies.

Third, the 2030 Agenda seeks to promote a route through objectives and indicators. In sport, physical education, and physical activity have unconnected indicators, each one “on its own”, and the institutional offer is disconnected upwards (disconnection with SDG goals) and to the sides (internal disconnection between sport, physical activity, and physical education). This issue seems irreconcilable conceptually, administratively, and fiscally.

Fourth, society has rewarded sport as a competitive activity over other practices such as physical education and physical activity. Within the framework of a development agenda, the contribution of competitive sport is very small; if one seeks to quantify the number of jobs, the quality of education, or the reduction in gas emissions from federated sport, the impact is negligible. As long as the role of the majority is as consumers and not as active agents, the scope and impacts will continue to be very limited.

Fifth, to the historical problems of sport such as corruption and doping, new ones are added such as the rise of sedentary lifestyle, obesity, loneliness, substance use in amateur sports and gyms, the arrival of online betting in youth sports among others. This year, the world conference on sport and society covered a wide range of challenges, in fact the name of the event was: Is a cure for sport?

To address these needs, and admitting that the issue is much more complex, we have five articulated ideas that can generate a starting point to validate the contribution of sport to development.

We propose as a starting point, consolidating the definitions of sport, physical education and physical activity in Latin America and Spain, which allows us to recognize ourselves in diversity, and reach a consensus on what we understand by each of these areas.

Second, support the UNESCO initiative that seeks to develop common indicators for sport, physical education and physical activity. how to do it? Once the indicators have been developed, those of us who work in universities and colleges can develop the topic with our students, and facilitate their knowledge and expansion. The same is up to governments who have the capacity to implement them.

Third, take these results from the top down and from the bottom up. This is; elevate these results to international political advocacy bodies with relevant actors OAS, UNESCO, OECD, among others, in coordination with national governments. Additionally, use the power of social networks and engagement platforms such as change.org among others.

Fourth, sport, physical activity and physical education do not have common platforms to report their progress in the implementation of SDGs, therefore, the means to do so is essential, if the importance of sport in the context of the world is to be quantified. development.

Fifth, create incentives for natural and legal persons who use this platform. Stimuli do not necessarily have to be economic, this blog from the Inter-American Development Bank presents challenges as a good option to innovate (Cañete & Casaburi, 2018) .

References.

Cañete, N., & Casaburi, G. (2018, August 22). Challenges and prizes, a good combination to innovate - Dots on the i. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://blogs.iadb.org/innovacion/es/desafios-y-premios-de-incentivo-un…

Hernández, M. (2021, October 24). Public Policies: Five monumental setbacks. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.hernandezmauricio.com/skininthegame/cinco-tropiezos-monumen…

______________________________________________________________________________

Mauricio Hernández Londono. Associate Professor of the University of San Buenaventura. Director of Transparency in Sports (NGO)

Sebastian Restrepo Moncada. Graduate in physical education and sports. Specialist in pedagogy and didactics Master in education Teacher at the Salesiano el Sufragio school

Tags

Country
Does not apply
Region
Does not apply
Sport
Does not apply
Sustainable Development Goals
Does not apply
Target Group
Does not apply

Related Articles

sportanddev mooc

Reshaping sport and development: sportanddev.org website and online course in multiple languages

Paul Hunt
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/reshaping-sport-and-development-sportanddev-online-course-multiple-languages
 
The URL has been copied
Save the Dream

sportanddev and Qatar Fund for Development launch Arabic website and online course in sport for development

sportanddev.org Community
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/sportanddev-and-qatar-fund-development-launch-arabic-website-and-online-course-sport
 
The URL has been copied
webinar with multiple faces

Over 50 organizations across the world inaugurate “The House of Sport Volunteers”

https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/over-50-organizations-across-world-inaugurate-house-sport-volunteers
 
The URL has been copied
A Swiss Academy for Development project in Uganda (photo by ACSET)

Reflecting on 20 years of collaboration: sportanddev and the Swiss Academy for Development

sportanddev
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/reflecting-20-years-collaboration-sportanddev-and-swiss-academy-development
 
The URL has been copied