IBLF - Sport

SPORT

Shared Goals of Sport: Getting a sustainable return for businesses and communities

Produced in partnership with Standard Chartered , Nike and UK Sport

Shared Goals through Sport looks at the business motivation behind, and characteristics of, effective private sector engagement in sport for development, which is defined as using sport to empower individuals, alleviate poverty, and create social change. the purpose of the report is to encourage greater private sector engagement in sport for development partnerships.

The report argues that:

Sport offers a unique means for companies, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and governments to form partnerships to meet development objectives in health, gender equality, youth development, social inclusion, and conflict prevention. These partnerships are particularly valuable in developing countries, where social and political challenges are urgent, and where the private sector is looking to meet sustainability commitments.
Effective partnerships in this area remain limited in number, and there remains a great deal of untapped potential. Greater fluency in the following three arguments is required in order to increase engagement in sport for development partnerships:
1 Sport can be a socially valuable activity;
2 Sport can be used to meet international development objectives; and
3 The private sector can be a partner in using sport to meet international development objectives.
Many companies are already engaged in sport in a range of ways. Some companies are linked to sport through marketing, advertising or sponsorship; others support community-based sport; and other companies provide sport-related goods and services. In many cases there are opportunities to make creative links between these activities and sport for development objectives.
There are some examples of companies using sport for development partnerships to benefit their businesses in a number of ways. This includes achieving social investment objectives, engaging with employees, improving government relations, and reaching new target markets. However, general awareness of the business opportunities represented by sport for development among the private sector remains low.
Some NGOs recognise that the private sector canbring a range of skills, expertise and resources to sport for development partnerships, as well as offering access to new relationships. A significant element of the NGO community still views the private sector primarily as a funding source, without recognising the wide range of other attributes that companies can bring.
Governments are relatively unaware of sport's potential to meet development objectives. Beyond a small group of government departments in northern Europe, Canada and Australia, government funding for sport for development partnerships is currently difficult to secure.
However, a number of developing countries, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea, have included sport for development in their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and national plans.
Interest in sport for development is likely to spike over the next two to three years with a series of high profile sporting events being hosted in developing countries, including the Beijing Olympics (2008), the Delhi Commonwealth Games (2010), and the football World Cup in South Africa (2010).
As global efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remain mixed － according to the World Bank, ‘action to scale up development efforts needs to accelerate, but steps forward still appear tentative' ― the use of sport for development is of significance to the private sector and the development community.

Next steps
This report illustrates the scope for increased action by governments, NGOs and the private sector to work together in partnership to exploit the many opportunities that exist for them to achieve shared goals through sport. It concludes with a series of practical suggestions on how all partners can support private sector engagement in sport for development.

In order to catalyse further action, the findings of the report are being disseminated through a series of meetings starting with London and Delhi during 2008.

IBLF is also exploring ways in which the lessons learnt from the report can be used to encourage and support sustainable initiatives involving business as a partner in this field.

If you want to find out more about the Delhi launch, or the partnering expertise that IBLF can bring to this area, contact Joe Phelan. All IBLF emails are firstname.surname@iblf.org.

Background - why is sport an important issue?

In 2005, sport was emerging as a serious medium for meeting development challenges. Companies, long aware of the power of sport, were beginning to use sport in their social investment programmes in a more strategic way, and IBLF's corporate partners were among the leaders in this area.

In partnership with UK Sport, IBLF produced Shared Goals: Sport and business partnerships for development, to raise the profile of the contribution the private sector could make to sport for development and share lessons from other issues and industry sectors. The report examines the development challenges being met by sport and outlined the business case for companies to use sport in their social investment and the specific contribution that companies could make.

Here are the results of a survey of sports practitioners and people interested in the role of business in society:

Sport can change the world - just give it a chance

Read a discussion on the BBC World Service website about some of the issues raised at the Next Step conference in Namibia.