World Sports Values Summit for Peace and Development comes to Cape Town

Sport is an extraordinary vehicle for bringing people together and offers precious opportunities to emphasise values too often clouded in our modern society. Sport, in its many forms, has a large potential to promote physical and mental well-being, overcome cultural divides, build community, and advance peace and the common good. Sport highlights what humanity shares and what can be achieved in an inclusive environment. Throughout the world, young people are embracing sport as a tool to help reach personal, community, national and International development objectives as well as address some of the challenges that arise from humanitarian crises in both conflict and post-conflict settings.

Sport is recognised by United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, as an important tool in helping to achieve the UN’s goals for development and peace programmes. In September 2015, the United Nations formally adopted a new sustainable development agenda to build on the work already done by the Millennium Development Goals. 17 new goals focus on ending poverty and extreme hunger and tackling climate change, among other global issues. With 2015 as a year of global action, this year’s Summit resonates with the new Sustainable Development Goals, resonating with the goals of ensuring healthy lives, education and understanding, and inclusion, especially of women and children.

Our aim is to inspire the young leaders present to take forward actions which will help to achieve these goals.

Founding Members

• Dr. Haruhisa Handa - founding chairman of Worldwide Support for Development, International Sports Promotion Society
• Lord Colin Moynihan - UK minister of sport in Margaret Thatcher’s Government and chairman for the British Olympic Association for London 2012
• Katherine Marshall - executive director of World Faiths Development Dialogue

• International Sports Promotion Society (ISPS)
• Worldwide Support for Development (WSD)
• World Faiths Development Dialogue at Georgetown University (WFDD)
• The University of Edinburgh (UE)
• University of Cape Town (UCT)

The Summit features 40 young leaders and athletes from around the world, including several outstanding participants from previous World Sports Values Summits. This year, several additional participants who play recognised leadership roles relating to sports values and who have been recognised by our university partners join the community. We welcome the participation of 25 experts and distinguished guests who participate as speakers and panellists. Reflecting the importance of sport in South African society, we are pleased that many outstanding local sportsmen and women join us for the Summit.

• Download the attached document to view the full event programme