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At the 14th edition of the Peace and Sport International Forum, all participants are encouraged to support and contribute to Peace and Sport’s appeal and recommendations directed at international leaders. Our aim is to harness the intentional use of sport as a tool for transmitting values for peace. Your insights and endorsements will shape the final recommendations for creating impactful programs that use sport to build peaceful, inclusive and equitable communities. These recommendations will be shared with the Forum’s audience and across Peace and Sport’s platforms on December 3, following the 2024 Forum’s plenary sessions. Based on the following premise, participants will engage in constructive discussions around three main themed sessions, feeding into the final joint recommendations.
Peace and Sport International Forum SPORT AS A PEACEBUILDING TOOL
Sport is universally popular, especially among young people. It can contribute to building a culture of peace if it is used with the intention to achieve life skills objectives, in an appropriate setting and by qualified educators.
THREE KEY AREAS
• Peace education - Shaping minds
• Living together - Driving inclusion
• Coalitions - Teaming up with Champions for peace
PEACE AND SPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
MAKING SPORT A PRIORITY
The Member States of the United Nations agree on sport's exceptional capacity to contribute to education, violence reduction policies, and social cohesion, as recognized in the 2024 Pact for the Future. . Despite this international consensus, on average, 64% of countries worldwide invest less than 2% of their education budgets in sport, according to UNESCO. The mindsets need to change.
Appeal : Governments to convert vision into action by investing in training for educators and in programmes designed to transmit values through sport.
ENHANCING LOCAL CAPACITY
The recognition of peace educators as a qualified and employable workforce is decisive. The professionalization of their status implies putting in place appropriate remuneration, providing dedicated training and orientation tools to accompany these men and women on whom the impact of the programs relies.
Appeal : Public and sport authorities to recognise peace educators as qualified and employable personnel.
CLUSTERING AND SHARING RESOURCES
Development banks, governments financial sectors, major sporting events organizers and international organizations must coordinate their approaches, programs and policies in order to make the funds proposed to the field actors more effective and efficient. This includes sport's investment in wider peace-building and violence reduction processes and educational policies.
Appeal : Public and private stakeholders to strengthen their coordination and ensure the effective use of funds allocated to peace through sport initiatives.
EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF PROGRAMS
The causal relationships between sport and peacebuilding, conflict and violence prevention remain to be demonstrated. Moreover, the evaluation methods currently available are essentially dedicated to the national level. These requirements imply a new paradigm, by focusing on the community level, on a long-term vision and on the impact criteria which add the qualitative to the quantitative.
Appeal: Public and private donors and investors to finance the implementation of impact studies at community level focusing on a long-term vision and on the impact criteria which add the qualitative to the quantitative.
DEVELOPPING AN HOLISTIC APPROACH
Greater convergence between supervising ministries and their departments is required, and distinctive offices dedicated to this coordination should be created. In order to integrate the sport, education, employability, health and youth sectors, together with cross-cutting interventions and programs, a systemic change is imperative.
Appeal: Public authorities to create dedicated offices ensuring coordination among the various sectors involved in implementing transversal programs, taking an inter-ministerial approach.
MENTORING ATHLETES
Models, heroes, and sources of inspiration for young people around the world, athletes have a unique potential to contribute to developing a culture of peace through sport. It is essential to mentor them simultaneously with their sporting careers to raise their awareness from an early age and offer them frameworks to strengthen their impact as peacemakers.
Appeal: Sports authorities to provide trainings on athletes’ social impact and offer them platforms for action and expression.
SCALING UP
The previously mentioned recommendations are essential prerequisites to scale up peace through sport programs. The deployment of programs on a national scale must be based on intermediate administrative levels designated by the State, adapted calls for projects and institutional supports that are in accordance with the needs and realities of project owners.
Appeal: Public and private stakeholders to prioritise support for the scaling up of high-impact programmes.