Moving
for ChangeMoving
for Change
Photo given by Gottfried Evers - given to the partner organization spirit of football e.V.
Photo by: Shari Yasmin Nijman - UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe (German Partner of UNHCR)’s activities in Bangladesh.
Sport for Development (S4D) is a growing field that utilizes sport as a tool to address social issues and achieve positive change.
It is not simply playing a game; it encompasses structured programs that intentionally incorporate life skills education, community building, and social inclusion. S4D initiatives have been used to promote peace, gender equality, health awareness, education, and economic development. By engaging individuals in physical activity in a purposeful way, S4D programs aim to empower participants, build resilience, and foster positive relationships within communities. It offers a powerful and engaging way to address complex challenges and create a more equitable and sustainable world.
Despite its benefits, it has not yet been widely adopted by many of the largest organizations working in the development sector.
We want to help change that. S4D, used purposefully and in a structured way, is a proven tool for achieving many of the same goals as these organizations. However, many of these organizations so far have only employed sport as an add-on activity rather than a core programmatic and/or strategic approach. We aim to change this by not only cooperating with key sustainable development actors to embed S4D into their programming, but also by leveraging our unique position in the sector to create the necessary local structures to support the advancement of S4D in the region.
Photo by: Shari Yasmin Nijman - UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe (German Partner of UNHCR)’s activities in Bangladesh.
Photo by: Shari Yasmin Nijman - UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe (German Partner of UNHCR)’s activities in Bangladesh.
Since our establishment, we have already taken over three partnerships in this programmatic area, which our funder adidas AG had already initiated with the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), UNHCR, and SOS Kinderdörfer.
As we build up this program further, we will co-create new initiatives with actors in the development sector, supporting them to integrate sport into their work in a way that helps them to achieve their existing goals. Our expertise in the purposeful use of sport to achieve social change combined with their well-established infrastructure, expertise and networks, will enable us to expand the use of S4D at scale. We will create a localized strategic approach by focusing on specific countries in our target regions. There, we strive to build a local ecosystem of NGOs, associations, governments etc., to further embed S4D approaches into the region.
Physical activity as a strategic approach for sustainable development actors
Program Impact
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