Right to Play
Various sport and peace organisations run the risk of emphasising more on public recognition than actually providing help to those who need it.
The topic for the March edition of Discussion Forum on Sport for Development and Peace was "Right to Play – Child and community development through sport".
After an introduction to the athlete driven, international, humanitarian organization
Right to Play and it how uses sport and play as a tool for
development for children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world, the dicussion that followed took a more general turn.
The discussion referred to below thus does not specifically point to Right to Play's work.
- In a forum like this, we are in a great position, not only to evaluate different initiatives on the sport development and peace arena, but to discuss how to improve what’s being done. We’re in a fortunate position, since we’re a group of people from different backgrounds with a wide variety of experiences and knowledge both on
development and peace work generally and specifically in the field of sport for
development, says participant
Solveig Straume.
Critically evaluate
The interest for sport for development and peace issues increase, and more organizations include sport in their programs. In striving to survive and enlarge, organizations have to work hard to maintain contact with potential partners and supporters.
Statistics on how many children and youth that has been reached and participated in various sport programs is commonly found in brochures and presentations.
However, these statistics do not necessarily reflect the actual quality
and stability of the programs. Are the children, as they become statistics, just
another tick off on the boast list for the fundraisers?
- There don’t necessarily have to be a contradictory relationship between quality and quantity in this case, but there is a possibility that some organizations, in striving for support and recognition, appear more involved in the latter, Straume says.
Potential pits
The discussion forum has the potential to need to critically evaluate, rise awareness of potential pits and strive to generate ideas on how to improve.
- In a forum like this the feedback that we can give each other is of great value, that’s why it has to come out like, and be perceived as constructive criticism, Straume says.