Next Step conference Communiqué and Reflections Report now available

The Next Step conference 2011 Communiqué and Reflections Report from UK Sport are now available to download and the four key areas addressed at the end of last year's conference remain as relevant and important as ever, with new developments in the sector reported on sportanddev this year.

Download the Next Step Conference 2011 communiqué
Download the UK Sport Next Step conference 2011 Reflection Report

Promoting global partnerships

The theme of last year's conference was based around Millennium Development Goal eight - a call for successful collaborations between organisations around the world to share knowledge and good practice.

This year, UK Sport celebrates partnerships with the Jamaica Rugby League Association and the Rugby International League Association to help promote rugby in Ghana to use rugby as a tool for skills development. Other successful partnerships include the European Union Commission and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and European Professional Football League in a campaign to raise awareness about hunger and working together to fight discrimination in football, and the Saint Lucia-based charity Sacred Sports Foundation partners with The FARE network.

Monitoring and evaluation
Kicking AIDS Out! delivered key sessions at the conference which looked at current monitoring and evaluation tools and the success of using collaborate measurements.

Meanwhile, Kenyan organisation Moving The Goalposts reported the success of using the a survey developed by Laureus Sport for Good Foundation last year and this year report positive outcomes from research which took a statistical approach to support sport for development community programmes for women.

Resource mobilisation
The Next Step 2011 conference highlighted the importance of using available resources to attract new funders and stakeholders, including the support from corporate companies in a difficult economic climate.

At this week's Global Sports Forum 2012, high profile figures including Eric Cantona and FC Barcelona President, Sandro Rosell, reinforced the message that footballers should remain role models both on and off the field by supporting causes. This call for global sports stars to use their profile to highlight sport for development is exemplified by an Australian Rugby League team supporting cultural heritage and sport.

Policy
The Journal of Sport Policy and Politics releases three articles free of charge relating to the roles of the Global North and Global South. Each discusses issues around the influence of the Global North and their influence of programming in Global South countries. Find out more about whether academic study matches what is happening on the ground.