Flashback to the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2016

Members of the Commonwealth Youth Sport for Development and Peace Working group (CYSDP) delivered several events to celebrate the 2016 International Day of Sport for Development and Peace across the Commonwealth, impacting  over 300 young leaders.

Adeola Taiwo: SPYD Initiative, Nigeria
A workshop was held under the theme “The role of Young People in SDP” on March 28. It brought together young people from around Lagos including volunteers from Voluntary Services Overseas Nigeria, who are working on developing a project using sport to ensure children are placed back in school. Participants also participated in SDP advocacy using the Youth SDP Advocacy toolkit. To celebrate the day, young people participated in the Global “white card” campaign. SPYD also hosted a tweet-a-thon with CYSDP Chair, Assmaah Helal, on the theme “Role of young people in SDP”.

Dinesh Gajendran: Audacious Dreams Foundation, India
Audacious Dreams Foundation volunteers attended an SDP awareness session and then delivered fun sessions to slum children who no longer attended school. Young leaders hosted a signature campaign among young people to commit to the CYSDP position statement.

John Oluwadero: Better Nigeria Initiative, Nigeria
John coordinated a conference with several stakeholders including high-profile university professors and sports commission representatives as well as dozens of young leaders. The forum resulted in a communique to advocate for SDP as a way of promoting the Sustainable Development Agenda, which was signed by a member of the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sports (CABOS), Mr Al Hassan Yakmut.

Some key outcomes and calls to action included:
• Tertiary institutions’ sporting events should be harnessed as a vehicle towards promoting SDP in Nigeria.
• Provision of participation opportunities for young people in sport and recreation activities.
• Sporting curriculum should be reviewed towards enhancing well-being, life skills and responsible leadership among young people
• Sport should be used as a veritable tool for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Sport should be used to accelerate the normalisation of internally displaced persons.

Sam Musembi: Mathare Youth Sports Association, Nigeria
The Mathare Youth Sports Association staff hosted a workshop to train its newly elected Zonal Committees. The theme of the training workshop was “Youth Advocacy in Sports for Development and Peace.”

Finlay Batts: WaterAid, Australia
Finlay delivered an engaging and practical session to NGO staff on the power of sport to promote peace and development. Fact sheets and resources were distributed, as well as practical examples of SDP in action. Staff also participated in an adapted and inclusive table tennis match.

Assmaah Helal: Football United, Australia
Assmaah organised a forum for over 20 young leaders on the theme “Sport for Social change”. It focused on identifying how sport can address social problems in Sydney’s most disadvantaged communities, as well as development strategies on making sport more accessible, particularly around access to facilities and reducing the cost of club registration fees. Participants had the opportunity present their strategies to a member of the state parliament, and received advice on how to influence decision-makers and advocate for positive social change.

Commonwealth Debate: Commonwealth Secretariat, England
Pete Beeley and Richard Loat, our Europe Regional Representatives, were invited to attend the Commonwealth Debate on Sport and Sustainable Development held in London, UK. The topic was, ‘To maximise the contribution that sport can make to sustainable development, governments should focus investment on ‘sport for health.’ Representatives from governments, senior officials and academics joined members of the sport and development community at the debate.

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