In 2017 SportImpact focused on codifying the Sport for Life movement, while maintaining support to the field projects in Timor-Leste and Cabo Verde. To date, the project has trained 130 young facilitators and over 2,000 youth organisers of multi-sport events engaging more than 35,000 kids.
What we did
In 2017 SportImpact focused fully on the Sport for Life project, codifying it in the Sport for Life Manual & Startup Kit, to make the project easier to implement by anyone anywhere.
While discussing launches in several new countries, in 2017 we maintained the (gradually reducing) support to the ongoing field projects in Timor-Leste and Cabo Verde.
In Timor-Leste, the ever more autonomous local team did more than ever with fewer resources (mostly volunteers), ending the year constituting their own Sport for Life Association:
- 73 facilitators from most municipalities trained in five Sport for Life Youth Leadership Camps (YLCs)
- Volunteer facilitators organised 48 Sport for Life editions around the country at nearly $0 cost
- Total of 934 participants in Sport for Life courses (43% women) and 7,000+ kids in events
In Cabo Verde, with very limited SportImpact support, the Cabo Verde Olympic Committee implemented M-Olympics – a variation of Sport for Life focused on gender inclusion:
- Eight one-week M-Olympics courses & events, facilitated by local trainers, with a total of 176 course participants, and 4,000+ kids trying on average 11 different sports per event
- Independent event replications by course graduates around the country
Key lessons
Codification (Manuals, etc.) helps, but is not sufficient for the project to grow by itself. Sport for Life can be quickly institutionalised with solid local partners like the Cabo Verde Olympic Committee. In other countries (like Timor-Leste), it may require longer-term gradual local empowerment, building processes and organisations from scratch; it is inefficient, but seems necessary to be truly inclusive.
Priorities
Leveraging Sport for Life codification, we’ll be testing efficient approaches to launch the project in new countries, with initial focus on existing geographies and networks: Portuguese-speaking countries, West Africa, Southeast Asia.
Thanks!
We appreciate all the collaboration and support from our partners and volunteers who make all this possible, in particular UNESCO, Cabo Verde Olympic Committee, Peace and Sport, and INOV Contacto.
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