Sustaining, strengthening and scaling sport for development: A team game

The world faces a range of increasingly complex and interconnected challenges. These include escalating humanitarian conflicts, cost-of-living crises and increasing inequities.  Equally urgent is the environmental apocalypse, deep-seated health issues and economic headwinds. There are also unequal power relations between the Global North and South. And much more.  

Further, only 16% of the targets for the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) are on track to be met by 2030. The remaining 84% of targets show limited progress and even a reversal of progress in some cases. To make matters worse, there is a larger gap between the average SDG performance of the poorest and most vulnerable countries and the global average than in 2015.  

Only 16% of the targets for the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) are on track to be met by 2030. The remaining 84% of targets show limited progress and even a reversal of progress in some cases.

Sport reflects, and contributes to, many of these challenges but can help tackle them – if used in certain ways. As such, the sport for development and peace (SDP) sector has grown rapidly in the past 20 years, but it is still very unequal. Organisations in high-income regions have more resources for programmes and more influence on policy. Covid-19 and other crises have exacerbated that inequality, with organisations/actors in more under-resourced regions at risk, while recent gains made may be lost (e.g. improvements to gender equity in sport). 

One reason for the inequality in SDP is that information and resources are often siloed across the sector, inaccessible and exclusive. Having the right knowledge and tools enables actors to create a greater impact through their programmes and policies, benefitting the communities they support. To address this, we need to ‘think local and act global’ and ensure accessibility and inclusivity through design and technology, increasingly vital in today’s world.  

A 2020 report authored by Oaks Consultancy in partnership with the International Platform on Sport and Development (sportanddev), Laureus Sport for Good, and Common Goal  revealed that the Covid pandemic left more than a fifth of those in the SDP sector fearing for their future. This has more of an impact in under-resourced regions than elsewhere. While the Covid pandemic has been largely mitigated, there are a range of other crises that tend to exacerbate inequalities, including in sport and development, with limited time to tackle them.  

Challenges and opportunities

The issues raised above provide opportunities to invest in the infrastructure of sport and development. As such, the diverse range of actors involved in SDP need to ensure collective effort and better coordination. This is crucial to ensure that the sector survives, that its efforts are sustained and that ultimately its success is scaled appropriately. This is aligned to the Kazan Action Plan, WHO Global Plan on Physical Activity, and the United Nations Action Plan on Sport for Development and Peace and its stated “need to strengthen and further co-ordinate efforts”.  

Further challenges face the SDP sector. It is unequal across regions, gender, race, (dis)ability, socio-economic status etc. There is a resourcing challenge, with greater constraints than ever. There is a great diversity of initiatives but a lack of coordination and collective impact, while North-driven, Anglo centric, neocolonial approaches may cause an ‘own goal’. There is limited understanding and research (especially at scale) on how sport can best contribute to change.  

Bridging the gap between policy and practice is critical. We assume everyone knows about the SDGs and the role that sport can play – this is not entirely true! In an extensive survey by the Japan Sport Council and sportanddev across all 6 continents, 29% of respondents (n=681) were unaware of all the following: the SDGs and/or the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the Kazan Action Plan; the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan for Physical Activity (GAPPA); and the UN Action Plan on Sport for Development and Peace. 

In the same global survey, 78% of respondents indicated they felt further support, tools and resources are required to better manage projects using sport for development. There is a clear need to build capacity in designing, delivering and evaluating policies and programmes. 

At sportanddev, we work with a range of partners to address such challenges, with a long-term goal of helping to sustain, strengthen and realise impact in sport and development. This has been a major objective of our Reshaping Sport and Development campaign and our work to offer resources (including our website and massive open online course) in multiple languages.  

This is a team game and given the scale and severity of the interconnected global crises, it is more important than ever that we work together coherently and collaboratively. As an ancient African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” 

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

The final whistle

SDP has grown rapidly in the 21st century with many challenges and opportunities. It has never been more critical to consider how sport can best contribute to sustainable development and peace. Sport can play a role in crises, including in relief, response and recovery efforts. The SDGs, Kazan Action Plan and Agenda 2063 (among others) provide a common framework for action. Sport can play a role in contributing to the SDGs and key priorities – and needs to be intentionally designed, delivered and evaluated to function as an ‘enabler of development’.  

sportanddev is addressing some of these issues with a wide range of partners and our diverse users to reshape a more equitable and impactful sport for development sector. This includes partners from the Global South who should play a leading role in this process. Aluta continua! 

Photo by Laura Rincón