SDP in South Asia

video conference call between 6 sports executives

Kafka Welfare Organization organized a webinar featuring SDP actors from across the South Asian continent, to mark IDSDP 2021. This was the second annual IDSDP webinar to be organized by Kafka.

Kafka Welfare Organization, based in Lahore, Pakistan, organized a live webinar to celebrate the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace. The topic of the webinar topic “Evolution of Sports for Development and Peace (SDP) in South Asia.”

The session brought together professionals from all over South Asia. Panellists included:

Umair Asif (Founder, Kafka Welfare Organization, Pakistan)
Gobinath Sivarajah (Project Manager, Teq, Sri Lanka)
Romee Giri (National Taekwondo athlete, Nepal)
Gitika Talukdar (Journalist, India)
Pappu Modal (National Paralympic Committee, Bangladesh)
Ahmed Anoosh (Ministry of Youth & Sports, Maldives)

Panellists discussed the foundation of SDP in South Asia, its development and contribution to the promotion of peace, women’s empowerment and community building. They further highlighted how sports contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals as a social tool and at what levels South Asia has been successful in adopting them.

Focusing on the theme of gender equality, the panellists noted the work that has been done, and the work that lies ahead.

Anoosh Ahmed commented that “giving importance to gender equality will give fairness, equal opportunity, and freedom which both genders can achieve the social values equally.”

Romee Giri noted that while women in sports are facing social and organizational challenges, “the first challenge women should learn to overcome is the individual challenge, like self-limiting behaviour, self-work advocacy, and addressing the voice.”

Gobinath Sivarajah said that the region has to focus on shifting the cultural mindset and work to provide more opportunities for women to engage with sports. He also noted that “political leaders should understand the power of sports and use it as a tool to make the necessary changes for a peaceful environment between countries and within communities.” He emphasized that each country has to create their own localized models for SDP programmes, based on addressing issues pertinent to their specific contexts.

Umair Asif concluded that "sports are the bests ways to promote gender equality, including isolated high-risk youngsters back in the society and building vulnerable communities." In a highly volatile context, then, sport must be harnessed for its transformative capacities.