Sports leadership programmes look towards MDGs for inspiration

Sports leadership programmes aim to develop leaders, but has enough been done to ensure they use their skills outside the sports arena? UK Sport evaluates how youth leadership programmes at home and abroad can incorporate wider development goals to grow leaders who can contribute to their local environment.

Leadership curriculums
Development organisations using sport as an activity to engage and teach young people skills often use set curriculums. Kicking AIDS Out! International network, which delivers HIV and AIDS awareness through sports activities, uses a curriculum which allows learners to graduate through various leadership levels. This process does not happen immediately and often it can take a number of years to achieve, ensuring that trained youth leaders understand the decision-making processes involved in this is essential.

George Nange from the Kicking AIDS Out! Secretariat, one of UK Sport’s international partners focusing on sport and education joined Clare Barrell, International Development Officer at UK Sport, in sharing this knowledge and best practice with domestic and internationally based organisations, in London last month.

Sharing knowledge
George believes that his experience of developing these programmes worldwide has helped him to see where UK based organisations can benefit, he said: “The qualities of a good leader are universal, but good leaders should be trained to transfer their skills in different situations. We want to shape leaders who can lead a team to success on any field.”

Clare, reflecting after the workshop, added: “What is surprising is that organisations do not feel their leadership programmes are as developmental as they initially thought. In order to effectively marry together sport and development a good youth training framework needs to give the scope and flexibility to allow the leaders to put what is taught into practice.”

Next steps 
So what next? With a strong call for standardised training of young people around the world, participants visualised a global leadership volunteering programme, which from the session’s feedback, would incorporate wider and boarder partnerships too.

UK Sport currently supports the Beckwith International Leadership in Development (BILD) programme in Ghana and the International Development through Excellence and Leadership in Sport (IDEALS) programme in the UK and with partners in Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia.