Sports experts agree integration of sport for development in Commonwealth agenda

A three-day meeting of the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport (CABOS) has broadly endorsed a work plan to take forward recommendations from ministers who met on the fringes of last year’s Commonwealth Games.

The action plan aims to realise directives from sports ministers on steps to move forward the sport for development agenda at the Commonwealth Secretariat, which now has a full time adviser based in the Youth Affairs Division. These steps cover staffing, partnerships and resources.

The key ministerial decisions focused on target setting, monitoring and evaluating development goals for sport.

CABOS is a 14-member body established in 2004 to advise the Commonwealth Secretariat and member governments on sports policy - particularly sport for development and peace.

Dr Bruce Kidd, Chair of CABOS, said: “Too often sports programmes are conducted in isolation from other interventions by government, operating in silos which are disconnected from similar efforts.

“The overarching thrust of CABOS is to help the Commonwealth Secretariat and member governments to integrate sports with programmes in education, health, gender and disability.

“Sport for development is an add-in, rather than an add-on.”

Henry Charles, Interim Director of Youth Affairs at the Secretariat, said the Commonwealth’s four regional youth centres in Guyana, India, Solomon Islands and Zambia are expected to play the lead role in the process of integrating sport for development into their work.

When sports ministers met in October last year, they endorsed this approach and urged CABOS to respond with a ‘roadmap’ for its implementation. CABOS has been closely involved with helping the Secretariat refine a plan for integrating sport into wider development objectives.

Delegates at the meeting this week also had the opportunity to hear from and visit sport for development interventions being carried out in India, and to bring sport to bear upon the different challenges facing the country.

These included presentations by the PYKKA Secretariat, which has unrolled an ambitious 10-year national programme to promote access to sport for disadvantaged rural children and the National Play Field Association of India, which is helping to provide safe and accessible playing fields to children in marginalised communities.

The Isha Foundation – which uses a combination of yoga and sport – was established after the tsunami of 2004 to help people in the devastated south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A non-profit, non-religious foundation, it uses sport to assist with health, educational and environmental messages.

CABOS members also had the opportunity to see Magic Bus in action. Through this charity, slum children from Mumbai and Delhi have the opportunity to play sport through which they learn important life skills.

Dr Kidd said he was impressed with India’s achievements: “The majority of action in sport for development has occurred in Africa, the Caribbean and inner city slums of developed nations. It is now clear that India is quickly becoming an innovative and inspirational leader in the sports for development movement.”

CABOS members also received a report from the Government of Australia on the widespread scourge of corruption in sport and agreed that Commonwealth countries are not immune to these threats. The advisory body reiterated its commitment to ensuring that sport was conducted to the highest ethical standards.

Members of CABOS are drawn from every region of the Commonwealth and include representatives of governments, sports federations, universities, and the Commonwealth Youth Caucus.

“CABOS members bring different backgrounds and vocabulary to these challenges. Despite this diversity, there is strong consensus around these points,” said Dr Kidd.

Secretariat Links:

• CABOS