In places where war and violence have left deep divisions in society, development cooperation uses sport for bridge-building.
On Friday, Jutta Engelhardt, Programme Director at SAD, took part in a panel discussion in Geneva about the way in which sport can be used as a peace broker – and which challenges exist in practice.
The panel discussion was organised by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). It brought together people specialised in both theory and practice – amongst them Jutta Engelhardt, Executive Director of sportanddev.org, the most important information hub for sport and development.
An environment in which people can come together
The panel discussion was organised by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). It brought together people specialised in both theory and practice – amongst them Jutta Engelhardt, Executive Director of sportanddev.org, the most important information hub for sport and development.
In war-torn societies, sport facilitated a culture of communication – with and without words, Jutta Engelhardt explained. She emphasised that sport promoted a safe space for people of different ethnic groups to come together, and, being a replica of life and of society as a whole, that sport taught people to follow the rules in use in some given social unit.
Equal access is important
However, for projects and programmes in the field to be efficient, all groups must have equal access to the sports activities, Jutta explained. Furthermore, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of using sport for peace-building and social development offered several challenges: The desired results for improvements could not be found in improved sporting skills of participants, Jutta stated, but were to be found in the participants’ improved social skills and less likeliness of conflict.
The perspective of theory and practice
Alongside Jutta Engelhardt, Alexander Cárdenas and Sylvia Poll were part of the panel discussion. Alexander Cárdenas has realised his PhD thesis in the area of sport and development and has been active in the field as a practitioner before. Sylvia Poll is a former professional swimmer. She represented Costa Rica twice in the Olympics and won her country’s first Olympic medal. Poll has been an ambassador for sport and peace since 2010.