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Post-UNOSDP - Is the IOC fool's gold?

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
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Children's Rights in Focus #1

Our new newsletter, Children's Rights in Focus , is now live! To read Issue #1, click on the image below.
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The Football Ambassadors of Pre-Partition Bangladesh

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.
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Playing for Positives: How Pro Sport and Good Causes Can Work Together

LeBron James, marking the death of Eric Garner, in 2014. Pic Credit: The New Yorker Interesting read from The New Yorker on the authority and power invested in professional athletes, in relation to influencing the progress of social justice. The focus here is on American sports, but the theme can be easily extended to other sports, worldwide. It's perhaps no surprise perhaps that the rise of pro sports as a massive industry in its own right, with the parallel gains for individuals in money and celebrity terms, that more athletes don't speak out about important issues. There's clearly a lot at stake, and a lot to lose for those who step off the tightly managed corporate line running through most large sports organisations and clubs. But, the fact that a large percentage of today's professional athletes come from simple backgrounds, if not from situations of outright poverty and/or abuse, begs the question of why don't more speak up about the circumstances
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In these times, find the joy of being human

The election of Donald J Trump as America's 45th President, confirmed in this week's inauguration, presents numerous challenges to human rights and people power. The boorish, misogynistic, arrogant tenor of his campaign has cast a pall over the rights of minorities in America and across the globe as his "America First" call, by definition, puts everyone else second or worse. The only equality in the scenario he presents is of the George Orwell type: that of some being more equal than others. Such a situation already exists of course. Western males wield more direct and indirect power in global terms than, say, a dark-skinned girl in a slum. Trump is hardly breaking new ground. But, his ascendancy gives that dark reality more momentum. It puts it closer to the centre of normal. His message threatens to break the positive values that link human beings to each other. Globally, governments, civil society and civilians need to make a stand. We need to step up to
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Statement on Funding for the Rohingya Football Club

We are very pleased to announce that The Kick Project has received a $AUD16,500 donation from the Australian Government to fund a pilot soccer program with Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. The funds, coming through the Australian High Commission in Malaysia, will allow the charity to support the Rohingya Football Club which has become a vital part of the exiled Rohingya community in Kuala Lumpur. The program entails kitting out the team, providing transport to games and establishing a sports and community hub where Rohingya people can access sporting equipment and coaching. Young people, and girls in particular, are the long term focus of the initiative. The Kick Project founder James Rose says the Rohingya are in dire need of assistance. "The UN has called the Rohingya arguably the most persecuted group in the world. They've been forced to flee their homelands in Myanmar, where they have been made stateless by government decree, and many have lost their lives
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FIFA Spat in Palestine May Present an Opportunity

Our latest article, run on the Sport and Development website, on the peace potential in the dispute between Israeli settlers and the Palestinian Football Association. "It's disappointing FIFA has so far chosen not to lead on the issue of Israeli settlement teams playing in Palestinian West Bank. This is a real opportunity for the beleaguered overseer to take a stance, especially as it appears doing so would simply be by enforcing its own rules..."( more )....
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