Putting sport for development on the map

A mapping of sport for development and peace (SDP) initiatives, activities, projects and programmes across the Commonwealth was launched by the Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat on 22 July 2011.

The exercise will help establish baseline data on SDP, which uses sport as a tool to help realise international development goals and to address some of the difficulties arising from humanitarian crises and in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Commonwealth sports ministers who met in Delhi, India, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 committed to developing appropriate priorities, targets, strategies and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating SDP. The mapping exercise marks the first stage of this important work. It is likely to be completed within six weeks through the Commonwealth’s regional youth centres in Guyana, India, Solomon Islands and Zambia.

S S Chhabra, Sport Development Adviser at the Secretariat, said: “On the one hand it will help the Secretariat plan SDP strategies more effectively, but it will also help our regional youth centres to develop linkages with existing and potential partners.”

A workshop is also being planned for September 2011 involving various divisions of the Secretariat, other stakeholders and civil society organisations in a bid to better integrate SDP into the work of the Secretariat.

For further information about the project, please contact S S Chhabra on s.chhabra@commonwealth.int

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