A governance vacuum
The more I dive into the field of sport for development and peace (SDP), the more I am convinced that there is something wrong in the global architecture underpinning all the efforts related to this increasingly important field. Day by day we gather more and more evidence on the role that SDP is playing to help us overcome the biggest challenges faced by our humanity.
The Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD) at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has prepared a policy brief on recovery through SDP in a post-COVID world. The report, created in partnership with the Inter-Agency Group on Sport for Development and Peace (IAGSDP) makes a clear case for the need to invest in sports for the common good. Thus, there is a need for a strong guiding hub within the UN, mandated with championing, developing, and promoting SDP.
At an impasse
There might always been the argument that the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) was too weak and lacking resources to really make a difference within the huge universe of the UN system worldwide. Yet, there was never a serious attempt at upgrading and strengthening it, and I wonder what could have happened if Wilfried Lemke, the then-UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, had received the due resources to fulfill its mandate.
It isn’t even that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took on the responsibilities in the area of SDP – indeed, it hasn’t played much of a role in this field.
The problem lies at the grassroots levels where many National Olympics Committees (NOCs) are active but are often mired in controversies because of their political nature. In short, they are not geared towards developmental work on the ground. This means that the committees are often poorly equipped and lack the resources and understanding to promote SDP.
Certainly, one solution would be to support the NOCs in becoming stronger in this area. Yet, even in an ideal situation where such transformation would happen, we still have to reflect on who is charge of SDP within the UN, centrally and locally.
Building the grassroots
Let’s start from the latter, the importance of promoting the sector on the ground.
The best solution would be endorsing and achieving the overarching goal of truly mainstreaming SDP across all the agencies and programs functioning within the UN system. I know we are talking about a galaxy of organizations whose mandates are institutionally fragmented by design.
In this complex landscape, SDP would be at the center of the coordinated planning that the UN system conducts at the country level, an effort that in the last few years has been strengthened with major reform.
The United Nations Sustainable Coordination Framework ensures, at least on the paper, higher coherence and empowers the offices of the local UN Resident Coordinators. The logic is this – if we cannot do away with or merge UN agencies or programs, then let us ensure that there is a stronger coordination and avoidance of any duplication.
In this case, different UN agencies and programs would, based on their mandates, incorporate SDP into their programs.
An interesting task would be to conduct a global assessment over the importance attached by the UN country teams to activities related to SDP, in their multi-year planning.
Global planning
Let’s now shift to the other dimension – the issue of coordinating SDP at the global level, within the UN system. Here it gets complicated.
UN DESA
On the one hand, there is the Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD) in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) that is currently coordinating the preparation of the Secretary General Report on Sport for Development and Peace to the General Assembly in autumn.
DESA, however, is not an implementing body and is quite far from anything related to direct implementation. Rather, acting as a knowledge hub and think tank, DESA is laying the theoretical foundations and making the case on why we should invest on sport for the common good.
UN Envoy on Youth
On the other hand, we have the Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, a relatively new unit launched by former Secretary General Ban Ki- Moon in 2013.
The current Envoy, the second to occupy this position, Jayathma Wickramanayake, is now focusing on the implementation of the UN Youth Strategy, an ambitious document whose tenets are supported to be included at local levels by the UN country teams.
Despite the fact that the word ‘sports’ is not mentioned even once in this strategy, all its priorities – engagement, participation and advocacy, informed and healthy foundations, economic empowerment through decent work, youth and human rights, peace and resilience building – can be easily fostered and enhanced by SDP.
At the same time, Secretary Guterres has been promoting an ambitious plan of action, Our Common Agenda, which is aimed at reforming and further strengthening the role of the UN. In this broad undertaking that will require several years of implementation, there are plans to make the UN more youth centric.
As a result, all UN governance related to youth will probably change. For example, it has already been decided that there will be a new United Nations Special Envoy for Future Generations.
Whatever will be the outcome of such restructuring, there is hope for a stronger UN system that is centered on the needs and aspirations of youth. In such evolution and transformation, we need to guarantee that SDP receives the proper recognition and role it is due.
UNESCO
We should not forget that UNESCO has been championing physical education and sports for decades. At the ground level, a stronger recognition of UNESCO’s potential advantages in promoting SDP might be useful, considering that the agency is also the guardian of education for sustainable development, which is clearly related to sports and physical activities.
Thus, UNESCO has a clear mandate at local levels to promote SDP, which could help in the process of integrating it in national development plans. However, the question remains whether it has the appropriate resources – the agency is one of the weakest within the UN, resource wise.
In this way, each UN country team would have a clear champion and focal point and knowledge bank to support its agencies and programs to embed SDP in their individual plans of actions.
As you can see, there is a lot on the plate for those drafting the UN Secretary General Report to the General Assembly.
It will be interesting to see the outcomes of the upcoming Expert Group Meeting/ Second Multistakeholder on the “Role of Sport in Addressing Inequalities in times of Crisis and Recovery,” to be held on 12 April 2022. These outcomes will be instrumental in preparing the Secretary General Report, and we could start focusing on the governance issue in SDP.
An urgent appeal
It is fine to talk about the effectiveness of SDP and sports-based approaches towards development. However, it is also equally important to talk about its governance, if we care about it in the long term. And for that, a global conversation on the role SDP has in the global UN system must start at the soonest.
Simone Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE. He can be reached at [email protected]
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