South-North cooperation in sport for development

The one year Cologne-based grassroots sport initiative Rugby United, and the sport for community development organisation headquartered in Caracas operating since 2012, have formally partnered to initiate a North-South collaboration during 2018.

The two organisations are teaming up to enhance the use of sports as a tool for integration. Rugby United, an initiative led by four female rugby players from Cologne, decided to use their passion for rugby to integrate refugee children into German culture. DPD in their almost six years of experience, who have worked with prestigious organisations such as the Development Bank of Latin America, have developed a training for trainers methodology aimed at providing skills to coaches to use their sport knowledge for community development in vulnerable communities in Venezuela and Colombia.

DPD will work on a set of skills that will allow coaches to be aware of the work done with refugees, but also on practical games that can help the participants to discern critically on specific challenges to their situation. The outcome of this cooperation is for Rugby United coaches along with allied sport clubs interested in working with refugee communities to receive the practical and theoretical knowledge of sport for development in a face-to-face workshop in Cologne.

When exploring the reasons for learning from an organisation out of the German and/or European context, speaking to the DPD’s Director Roger Rondón he said,

“There are two main clear reasons, one is that we have worked in the largest low-income neighbourhood of Caracas where many of them are refugees who fled from the Colombian conflict, and the other one is the fact that we have successfully thrive as an NGO in the most challenging socio-political contexts in Venezuela, so we have accumulated an experience which is of great value for coaches working with vulnerable communities”.

Rugby United operates through the sport club RSV Köln and uses the traditions of rugby to integrate refugees and others interested, including German children. A regular practice of Rugby United opens with a welcoming/warm-up section, in which the traditions of rugby are evident. Afterwards groups are split up to play games guided mostly by female coaches, and they conclude with some reflections and the rugby practice of recognising each other’s efforts by clapping and saluting to the opposing team. At the end of each day of practice all the participants sit down together to enjoy a meal.

This cooperation is an opportunity to explore different aspects of the South-North cooperation between these two organisations. A few ideas and/or actions that can be considered are:

• Academic organisations interested in doing an analysis of the contrasting relationship of South-North cooperation through an M&E
• German (or European) organisations currently working with refugees to engage with best practices found so far working in this sector through networking
• Private or Public organisations with a philanthropic intention to support social-oriented grassroots projects
• Sport clubs in general in Germany and/or Europe to receive theoretical and practical knowledge on sport for development

To stay updated with this project you can follow the social networks of the organisations, you can find Rugby United on Facebook and Instagram, and Deporte para el Desarrollo on Facebook and Instagram. It is possible to contact the project managers Edgar Romero ([email protected]) in English or Spanish and/or Julian Blessing ([email protected]) in English or German.