The
conference was a project of the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at the
University of Western Cape (UWC) in partnership with the
The
conference brought together leaders from governments, international
organizations, universities and NGOs, among which were Mr. Adolf Ogi, Special
Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; Mr. Gert Oosthuizen, Deputy Minister
of Sport, South Africa; The Belgian Ambassador to South Africa; Professor Gudrun
Doll-Tepper, International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE);
Mr. George Nsiah, United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA); Mr. Enrico Prandi,
Panathlon International; Mr. T.A. Ganda Sithole, International Olympic Committee
(IOC), Director of International Cooperation.
The first
day was held at the University of Western Cape Campus (WCC), a university which
played a prominent role in the struggle for freedom from apartheid in South Africa. It featured speeches from UWC rectors and vice-chancellors, politicians and
various academics, which set the stage for the conference.
There is a
wide spectrum of sports worldwide. There are the “elite” sports and the
associate cultural and economic phenomenon which accompany their tournaments and
venues, e.g. The World Cup, Olympics. Naturally, the politicians stress the
economic benefits. Academics are more circumspect and stress that there is no
evidence of the balance of benefits.
The larger
concern is that elite sports do not “trickle down” sufficiently to the
community level. There may be excitement and a short term infusion of passion,
but there are serious issues of sustainable sport at the grassroots level.
A larger
concern felt in the developed and developing world is that the first casualty of
funding cuts in education is in the areas of sports, music and the arts. They
are, for all practical purposes, seen as luxuries, and are the first to be
canceled if they are part of the curriculum. Often the time slot allocated to
sports or physical education is used for other purposes.
In the
remaining two days, the conference explored the themes outlined in the
conference with break out sessions on: A) Good Delivery of Sport; B) Sport,
Community Development and Peace; C) Sport, HIV/AIDS, and other Risk Behaviors;
and D) Monitoring and Measuring the Effects of Sport and Development
Interventions.
The
Project Director of Play Soccer Make Peace!, Robin Graham, represented WANGO
at the conference. Mr. Graham primarily participated in Session B, Sport,
Community Development and Peace, in which he made a presentation on the final
day of the conference.