The Kick Project

This is a longer version of an article published on SportandDev.org With the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace closed down by the global body, there is undoubtedly a void in this space in which many of us here work. But, for all the high profile oomph the UNOSDP added to the world of sport for good, it’s passing need not be seen as devastating. For one, the work the UNOSDP has already done in its 16 years of life has laid a platform for the development of sport for social justice. While many of us knew for years that sport had a wider purpose beyond mere business or entertainment, the UNOSDP has provided a base of credibility that may have otherwise taken much longer to establish. While much of the work is, in many ways, still to be done, the UNOSDP has left a positive legacy on which we can all build. More problematic is the shifting of the UNOSDP’s brief to the IOC. Obliging the IOC to administer to the peace and development facets ...

Bangladesh had a fraught path to independence. Squeezed in between the mega forces of Pakistan and India the people of the former East Pakistan suffered greatly as they sought freedom. But, as this little known story (at least to us) shows, there was an important strategy by some to use sport to open up the debate. Some of the tactics used might sit uncomfortably with some - the involvement of some Indians for instance seems reflective of the politics of convenience at a tense time for instance - but the overall strategy of using sport as a form of peace diplomacy is roundly endorsed by The Kick Project. The power of sport to open up the space for dialogue - often in inarticulate ways - remains a powerful and too-little used force for good in the human world. This i nteresting read from Vice.