SSPEL Newsletter: Research and Scholarly Activities

2nd Magglingen Conference: ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ 4-6 December 2005.

The United Nations (UN) sponsored conference on sport in international development took place over three days (December 4 – December 6) at the Swiss Federal Sports Institute in Magglingen (near Biel, two hours north of Geneva). As a result of my recent and growing interest in international aid diplomacy, and in particular sport development as part of that agenda, the conference provided a unique opportunity for me to develop an understanding of the area. As a result of support from the ‘Promising Researcher’ funding I was able to attend.

This was the second Magglingen conference on the theme of ‘Sport for development and Peace’. The first took place in October 2003, leading to the ‘Magglingen Declaration’, which essentially constituted a declaration of intent. The second conference was design to assess progress made with the sport in international development process through a number of government and UN supported initiatives and to create a ‘road map’ for future development.

Conference speakers were drawn from a range of international governmental sports, youth and education Ministries, as well as representatives from relevant UN Commissions and international sports federations (including FIFA). While attending the initial ‘keynote’ speeches, I became quite alarmed at the blandness of the statements until it became apparent that the focus of the sentiments being expressed was not the audience in the hall but the wider audience to which the media were projecting their images. It was a relief to find that the level of analysis and debate was much higher at subsequent workshops and roundtable sessions where the media were not in attendance.

The international audience in many ways mirrored the profile of the conference speakers; including a number of Ministers from African and Middle East States and agency staff from the more ‘developed’ states represented (this contrast between representatives of the executive and the legislature was itself interesting). As well as representatives from a number of UN and IOC Commissions, personnel were present from a wide range of small non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaged in a variety of development assistance projects. There were relatively few academics - perhaps reflecting the fact that this is an embryonic area of study. I only identified five – including myself – from the UK. A number of delegates and speakers had arrived directly from the International Physical Education conference, which had taken place nearby. It was clear that there were many issues common to both settings. This related to the use of education ministries to assist in rolling out development programmes and the general concern with the impact of a perceived international decline in the delivery of good quality physical education programmes.

Conference themes of particular note included:

• Consideration of mechanisms for ‘measuring’ the input of development assistance through sport. As with the measurement of any development assistance programmes, this has until now, proved to be an intractable problem. Efforts to encourage the myriad of small NGOs working in what are often very difficult situations, to apply complex formulae to their activities, have invariably met with failure. Nevertheless, with donors increasingly demanding ‘proof’ that their resources and being put to good use, pressure is growing for more effective ‘measuring sticks’. One model currently being developed by a group on contract to the agency UK Sport seeks to focus on identifying effective ‘processes’. The rationale for this approach was that if processes were right, for instance recruitment of staff with appropriate qualities and subsequent effective staff training, then outcomes would look after themselves.

• A consideration of a range of mainstream development issues in the context of sports development assistance. This included filtering of proposed projects to ensure a focus on truly demand, as opposed to donor led initiatives. In addition, an assessment of how the ‘traditional’ South-North dependency relationship characteristic of aid programmes in the past, could be challenged, through for instance student exchanges, more effective partnerships.

• Sport as a force for encouraging peaceful outcomes in conflict situations Many claims have been made regarding the capacity of sport to contribute to overcoming conflict in a wide range of contexts. While evidence tends to be somewhat patchy, there have been a number of recent reports on the capacity of sports programmes to improve inter-community relations in areas of tribal conflict. Resources are increasingly channelled into such confidence building activities. A range of NGOs including the Canadian based ‘Free to Play’ have organised and resourced programmes in refugee camps where there is potential conflict between rival groups (in the case of Free to Play, this also involves working through the arts and a range of creative play situations). Identifying best practice in the organisation of such activities did provide an area for lively debate.

• An assessment of the possible roles of sports organisations and agencies in medium and long term development and in short term emergency aid. In relation to responses to emergencies, a clear disparity of views soon emerged between speakers and from the floor. A number clearly felt that the focus should be one of profile raising i.e. using sports stars to get disasters ‘on the map’ and to raise emergency funds. One example discussed was the activities of the ICC in relation to the recent Pakistan earthquake, which included £15m raised in the first four weeks after the disaster. Against this, there were those who felt that it was more effective to provide aid directly i.e. FIFA, an organisation with formidable international influence, mobilised their own international network of doctors, physiotherapists, logistics managers and government links, to assist in the aftermath of last year’s Tsunami in Indonesia.

Inevitably in a conference of this type, a number of regional political tensions did surface. In a passionate presentation the director of the Israeli sports institute outlined development projects the institute were currently running, that involved a number of Palestinian athletes, while at the same time recognising their limitations in contributing to wider stability. Such tensions were perhaps most clearly articulated in a discussion I had with a representative of a small grassroots NGO operating in Zimbabwe. He was ‘sparking’ with frustration as he provided a vivid account of the systematic dismantling of civic society in Zimbabwe, the impact this was having on the work of the organisation in some of the most deprived areas in the country and the pleas for help from his Zimbabwean colleagues, to which he could not respond. As we talked, someone from the Zimbabwean delegation walked past. Nodding discreetly in their general direction he noted that had he raised any of his concerns on the conference floor, it would be the last time he would be able to enter that country.

Could I draw any general conclusion from the conference? Perhaps my strongest impression was that internationally, sport development (both development of sport and development through sport) is diverging along two defined pathways. On the one hand the established mainstream international sports interests, represented by the large INGOs such as the IOC and FIFA with their direct links through to powerful governmental and non-governmental actors including the relevant UN agencies, are generally continuing to pursue their own agendas through engagement in highly visible initiatives. On the other, a great diversity of small, ‘grassroots’ and at times truly ‘transnational’ NGOs showing imagination but at the same time increasingly frustrated, are battling to engage in a range of programmes with, for the present anyway, little sign of improvement in levels of support from the ‘big players’. One delegate referred to the great difficulties in penetrating these ‘international bureaucracies’.

In the past, and to some extent at this conference, expectations as to what individual and social objectives can be achieved through sport become inflated. Nevertheless, it is clear that given the right pre-conditions effectively targeted programmes can make a positive contribution to the quality of material and spiritual life at individual and community level. This applies as much to the domestic as it does to the international agenda. The challenge is to identify where those opportunities exist and how access to the policy process can be achieved, to ensure that these opportunities are then resourced. In relation to international development, the added challenge of avoiding the historical pitfall where well meaning ‘white peace corps’ fed deference and dependency and undermined local cultures through the imposition of ‘foreign’ activities and ways of doing things, remains real.

Many of the ideas and arguments developed at the conference have direct relevance to my teaching responsibilities. In particular, this applies to the new International Perspectives and Sports Policy modules, although material will also assist in the updating of Sports Governance and Disability Sport modules. The experience has also made a valuable contribution to the completion of an academic paper investigating the contrasting, often conflicting, motivations that underpin organisations deciding to engage in international development assistance. I was able to discuss two other exciting research possibilities with UK colleagues at the conference, and I will be seeking to secure the resources to develop these. From a domestic perspective, there are clearly opportunities to consider practical ways in which lessons learned in international development assistance, can be applied to community development programmes. Finally, I would like to explore possibilities for securing links with colleagues at Marjon, who have an interest in the general area of international development assistance. This interest could be from any perspective, for instance ethical, environmental or economic. I am sure there is much that we can learn from one another.

9th December 2005

Aaron Beacom