Sports Ministers meet at Delhi Games

Commonwealth Sports Ministers and officials gathered in New Delhi on 4 October to discuss the impact of sport in realising key development goals.

The 5th meeting of its kind was hosted by India’s Sports Minister Dr MS Gill and took place in the wings of the 19th Commonwealth Games, which opened in the Indian capital yesterday.

It was attended by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, and Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, who is responsible for youth and sports programmes at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

In his opening remarks to Ministers and senior officials, Mr Sharma stressed the importance of inclusive sport:

“Sport must bring its rewards to all: to athletes with neither shoes nor shirts, and to young boys and girls in this country and in other continents and oceans, who can come alive through sport, and learn many of life’s lessons,” the Secretary-General said.

He also outlined the tasks of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport (CABOS), which promotes the value of sport as a tool for social and economic development.

In her address, Mrs Masire-Mwamba said that integrating sport fully into youth programming was an “urgent priority” given that more than 60 per cent of the Commonwealth’s two billion citizens are under the age of 30.

But she also outlined the relevance of sport to other areas of work at the Secretariat, including health, education and gender.

“I believe it is impossible to have healthy, inclusive societies without healthy, inclusive sport,” she told delegates.

The meeting also heard from Dr Bruce Kidd, a former Commonwealth Gold Medallist and now Chair of CABOS, who stressed that good resolutions do not implement themselves. “How do we move beyond communiqués and policies to concrete implementation and demonstrated outcomes?” he asked.

Dr Kidd also warned that the overwhelming majority of children and youth are not currently engaged in sport at a level that will produce benefits.

SS Chhabra, the Secretariat’s sports adviser reiterated the Secretary-General’s call for developing a Commonwealth-wide consensus on priorities, measurable targets and transparent reporting of inputs and outputs, as was done for the Millennium Development goals.

Significantly, ministers agreed to a planning process to set measurable targets in consultation with governments, the United Nations and other agencies in the priority areas of sport for development by the next meeting in London in 2012.

Other speakers were Debbie Lye, Director of the International Development, UK Sport and Chair of the UN Sport for Development and Peace Working Group on Education & Youth Development; and Akua Sena Dansua, Minister of Youth and Sports in Ghana, who outlined initiatives in her country.

The meeting concluded with briefings by David Howman, Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Mike Fennell, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Ministers congratulated India on a successful start to the 19th Commonwealth Games. They will meet again in London in 2012 during the Olympic Games.

Click here for the final communiqué

Secretariat Links:

• Sport
• Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting 2010 - Communiqué