Coming Soon! The Sport and Development Series
Posted on 25 April 2010
In the coming weeks (beginning tomorrow), this blog will feature a series of guest posts on sport and development in order to shine a light on NGOs conducting inspiring work in this field.
Sport is one of the greatest tools for development. It is one of the few truly universal languages in the world and evokes a passion and sense of belonging that transcends borders and barriers and that is rarely replicated in other settings. Sport promotes equality, respect, acceptance and empowerment. It gives people a license to dream and permission to hope.
Fighting gender and ethnic discrimination, providing a source of income to local communities, promoting health awareness, organizing environmental cleanups, promoting peace and understanding, and bringing education and sport to refugees are just some examples of the different ways in which the tremendous power of sport can be harnessed to improve and transform people’s lives.
The UN Year of Sport and Physical Education 2005, along with the build-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which will be held for the first time in the African continent, have focused attention on the use of sport as a tool for development. Highlighting the success stories of organizations working in this field can inspire NGOs, donors, governments, private companies, multilateral organizations and various sports governing bodies to incorporate sport into their development agenda.
The series of blog posts will be authored by Mariana Andrade, who is a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. Mariana is a big proponent of sport as a transformational agent for social and economic development.
6 responses to Coming Soon! The Sport and Development Series
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Mariana,
Good job on this! I am a strong believer in the role of sports in transformational social and economic development. I will try to interest some colleagues who have been working on similar initiatives in Lagos Nigeria. I will certainly be visiting this blog site from time to time.
Diji.
Mariana, what a wonderful inspiration and natural extension of your joyful spirit. I am so happy for you. In high school, I was the president of my local Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, and can attest that athletics can be such a wonderful platform to unite people and transform lives, especially when they direct us to a higher purpose and calling. They remind us that we are transfigurational beings filled with endless potential for improvement, while at the same time we are bounded by the limitations of the flesh. Through sports we understand that we achieve greater things through cooperation and interdependence with others. And through the joy of victory and agony of defeat, we are reminded that we have the ability to move beyond our natural egoism and vainglory to a place of communal harmony, as long as we humbly understand that our victories and defeats are episodic and short lived. May your work be thrice blessed, Mariana, and bring you and everyone around you much joy and grace.
Very best regards,
Rev. Deacon Philemon/
Phillip S. Patitsas
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