Does sport have a role to play in development?

Lazarus Sauti

Sport is difficult to ignore right now because it seems to be everywhere. Accordingly, countries within and across Africa should harness its power to achieve development aims.

This is so since sport has great potential to raise awareness and spread messages in areas that are connected to economic transformation.

Because of this, sport is now a big business, with the potential to generate huge revenues from ticketing, merchandising, screening rights and tourism.

Not to mention great wealth for individual athletes, some of whom go on to become major philanthropists and development advocates.

With its vast potential, does sport have a role to play in development?

To answer this question, it is important to define sport and development. It refers to the use of sport as a tool for development and peace.

The United Nations (UN) recognises sport as a powerful development tool. The Secretary General of the organisation, Ban Ki-moon stresses that sport is a cost-efficient tool that can help the United Nations create a better world.

Sharing same views, Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace comments: “Sport has a crucial role to play in the efforts of the United Nations to improve the lives of people around the world. Sport builds bridges between individuals and across communities, providing a fertile ground for sowing the seeds of development and peace.”

This means that sport have a role to play in the development process of any country.

The United Nation states: “Sport plays a significant role as a promoter of social integration and economic development in different geographical, cultural and political contexts.

“It is a powerful tool to strengthen social ties and networks, and to promote ideals of peace, fraternity, solidarity, non-violence, tolerance and justice.”

Frankly, this recognition by the UN means that sport can now be seen as a relevant tool in development policies.

Accordingly, African countries should embrace sport and use it as an employment creating avenue and an important step were citizens can escape various social ills affecting them daily.

Joining hands with the UN is the Olympic movement.

The Olympic movement states that through sports development, society can achieve wider human development goals.

“Although the beneficial effects of sport for development are still not exploited to their full extent, sport can help bridge cultural and ethnic divides, create jobs and businesses, promote tolerance and non-discrimination, reinforce social integration, and advocate healthy lifestyles. Through sports development, we can achieve wider human development goals,” remarks the Olympic movement.

The assertions by the United Nations and the Olympic movement means embracing sport as a development tool can be, to an extent, a panacea to solve some issues of society and it can generate many positive effects and be a valuable tool for development.

This is so because sport is able to unite where differing national passions, politics, religion and culture often divide; it can foster social integration; and can also support local economic development and create jobs though the numerous income-generating activities that are linked to its practice.

However, sport is not a cure-all for development problems.

As a cultural phenomenon, it is a mirror of society and is just as complex and contradictory.

As such, sport can have negative side effects such as violence, corruption, discrimination, hooliganism, nationalism, doping and fraud.

Because of these side effects, Andrew Zimbalist, a leading sports economist believes sport has limited power to promote development.

Consequently, to enable sport to unleash its full positive potential, emphasis must be placed on effective monitoring and guiding of sports activities.

This role should be played by stakeholders in the sporting fraternity.

It is critical to note that the positive potential of sport does not develop automatically but requires a professional and socially responsible intervention which is tailored to the respective social and cultural context.

Thus, development players in Africa should work with governments and other organisations to use sport as a development catalyst.

More so, as sport becomes increasingly part of humanitarian and development work, as well as a part of the corporate social responsibility practices of some private sector actors, it becomes necessary to develop common definitions and frameworks for action in order to improve the coordination between sport and development.

This also means sport, as a tool of strong added value, needs to be integrated into a wider set of development practices, in a sustainable project which favours strengthening the abilities of its beneficiaries and value chains in the long term.