Sport development, sport for development, or both?

Maintaining and boosting sports themselves
Sport development primarily focuses on developing sport, or more specifically a certain sport. Often carried out by (Inter)national federations as well as umbrella organisations such as the IOC, FIFA and UEFA, it involves strategically developing a specific sport or a number of selected sports through investments, increased publicity or other means. The aim is to introduce more people to the sport, involving them as players, fans, sponsors or advocates.

This can be negative as well as positive. Of course, if a specific sport is successfully promoted, it can lead to more people appreciating the sport, joining in or working as coaches or volunteers, playing a positive role in the social well-being of a community. This can, however, come at the cost of other sports, such as traditional games. On top of this, showy representations in the media can be off putting for people. There can also be cases of corruption, with organisations prioritising prestige and money over the sport itself.

Thinking of sport as a tool
Sport for development is about generating social development through the use of sport. It works on three levels: supporting an individual to learn and grow, a community to improve their living conditions, and, in the long term, a nation to overcome conflict or its effects. Sport is a tool for development. Those who work in the field have the task of demonstrating the efficacy of this tool in comparison with others on the path towards positive social change. 

Projects carried out in the sport for development field must therefore be based on a firm understanding and knowledge of the sport itself. Just as in ‘sport development’, ‘sport for development’ interventions have to deliver solid sport curricula, and build skills of participants, teaching them the rules, technical tricks and ways of the game. It must be made clear to others that sport itself was the tool that brought about the social change, and this can only be the case if it is done carefully and thoroughly. If organisations merely provided sports equipment for example, and were unable to provide good, clear and supportive coaching, it would be right to question the value of their work.

Cooperation in the field
The overarching aim of the well-developed sport intervention may seem very different, but that is not to say that they cannot work together with mutual benefits. Both ‘sport development’ and ‘sport for development’ focus on delivering quality interventions and active, planned participation on the ground. We would perhaps do well to view them both as variations of the same idea, interventions in society aimed towards the most human of goals: making life more meaningful through interaction with one other.