![]() | Resources | No.49 January 2007 |
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The Toolkit for Sport and Development project commenced
in response to needs expressed during the “1st Next Step Conference”
in Amsterdam (2003), where a number of Sport and Development (S&D)
organisations and individuals gathered to share successes and discuss
common challenges and needs.
As an initiative of the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), the Toolkit was launched in 2005. The Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sport (NIF) took the lead over the Toolkit project as part of organising the “2nd Next Step Conference” in Livingstone, Zambia in 2005, and will host it until 2007. The aim of the project is to develop and share
expertise, learning examples and resources and make tools easily accessible
for everyone involved in S&D, in order to:
Together with a number of tools, checklists, recommendations,
learning examples and links, the current version of the Toolkit displays
more detailed information on 5 selected themes:
The Toolkit is closely linked to the International
Platform on Sport and Development www.sportanddev.org,
a virtual space on the World Wide Web dedicated to the field of S&D.
The Platform has a similar aim - to provide organszations as well as
individuals with a space to display and exchange information on S&D.
The platform also offers links to the International working group on Sport for Development and Peace and other relevant networks. Evaluation
Since the Toolkit was launched in June 2005 over
3000 CDRoms have been distributed and the Toolkit website www.toolkitsportdevelopment.org
has been visited by thousands of users from around the world. This,
once more, demonstrates the need and interest in the movement.
In order to improve and make the Toolkit more
user-friendly, the toolkit team decided to carry out a comprehensive
evaluation in 2006. The evaluation consisted of the following elements:
The evaluation concluded that the Toolkit provides
an abundance of valuable information. However, simplification of the
Toolkit, together with good users guidelines, would be useful. Further
more, information about, and tools for, several new themes should be
added, together with increased geographical inclusion of learning examples.
A full report of the evaluation results can be
downloaded from http://www.toolkitsportdevelopment.org/
Development of new themes
Sport development
As sport is becoming increasingly recognised as
a powerful tool for development, more resources must be allocated with
the purpose of securing the quality of sport structures. To use sport
as a tool we must first develop sport. We therefore want to add a section
directed at building the capacity of existing and new sport delivery
structures and organisations. This theme will include ideas and views
on the concept of grassroots sport, as well as tools to increase local
competence and infrastructure, club development, sports administration
and management.
1. Developing Local Sport Structures and
Capacity Building
NCDO and NIF are working on tools focusing on the development of local sport structures and building of local capacity within the structures. This will include issues like: planning, club development, coach-the-coaches, train-the-trainers and the value of sport for community development. 2. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
of S&D programs.
As the number of organisations using sport in their projects increases, the pressure on financial donors grows, along with demands for the implementers to effectively demonstrate the impact of their project. This has been a challenge for many community organisations and tools to develop good systems are needed. UK Sport
has used parts of 2005-06 to work on a M&D manual for S&D
programs. The manual has learning examples from several local NGOs and
will be available in the 2nd edition of the Toolkit. The report is currently
available on their webpage
http://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/new_resource_to_aid_sports_development/ Nike and NCDO organized a workshop on M&E and
gender in Amsterdam in September 2006 so the NCDO will also add a section
on M&E in the next edition of the Toolkit.
3. Sustainability
The CCPA’s - Open Fun Football Schools, a NGO focusing on peace building and conflict transformation in the Balkans, Caucasus and Levant (Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) has written a sustainability report and a model for their civil society approach, which is available on their WebPages. http://www.ccpa.dk/english/news/sustainability.pdf These will be added to the existing tools on how to achieve sustainability of S&D programs. Gender equity and sport
The emphasis on equal rights to participate in
organised sport and leisure activities has always been on the agenda,
but has not always been a priority. As international sport associations
state in visions and missions that people should be able to participate
in their sport regardless of gender, age, sex, ability, social status
and cultural background, many are unable to efficiently control and
monitor the national federations’ implementation of this. The
statement often becomes a piece of paper, worth little more than just
that. Some national associations and a number of S&D NGOs, on the
other hand, have taken important steps to address the subject and design
programs with a special focus on participation and representation.
Approximately half of the world’s population
is female, but equal opportunities for girls and women are far from
a reality in most aspects of the world, not only in sport. Gender equity
in sport is an important issue in the fight for equality and it is receiving
growing attention. The Toolkit is working with Dr. Martha Saavedra (University
of Berkley, CA), Marianne Meier (SAD)
and NCDO on the development and inclusion of this theme.
Sport, Peace and Reconciliation
This is one of the areas where sports’ limitations
are more prevalent than the demonstrated impact. The complexity of conflict
and the long-term processes of healing and reconciliation make it hard
to measure results and even harder to convince investors. NIF is working
to develop and include topics on understanding of conflict and peace
building, to recognise areas where sport can be of use and play a role,
and to identify and make available resources for conflict resolution
and transformation.
A number of resource persons and organisations
are working in the field and have been contacted for contributions.
We are currently exploring tools and learning examples to be added to
the Toolkit.
Promotion of the Toolkit
In order to learn, share and better utilise the
inadequate resources, promotion of the Toolkit is important. A number
of presentations were made in 2005, including those at large international
conferences like the 2nd Next Step in Livingstone and the 2nd Magglingen
conference (Switzerland).
In 2006 the Toolkit has been presented at:
The Toolkit was also presented by NCDO and discussed
during the international workshop on Gender Equity and Sport in Amsterdam
(Holland) in September.
The most challenging part is making the Toolkit
available to grass roots initiatives that never make it to these conferences
and workshops. Small, local, community based organisations that are
doing the day to day coaching, refereeing, administration and organization
in sport clubs and local committees.
Contributions are welcome
It is our responsibility to find ways and means
to increase our reach and accessibility, and to realise our goal; to
develop and share information, knowledge, resources and tools amongst
the Sport and Development community, and we need help to do
so.
We encourage organisations and individuals in
the field of S&D to contribute by adding useful resources and tools,
to give us feedback on relevance and user friendliness, as we constantly
aim to improve quality and availability, and we encourage you to tell
people about the Toolkit.
Please contact us, so we can work together.
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