Sports provide more than just a way to stay fit, they can be a powerful tool to promote cross cultural understanding, social integration and economic development across geographical, cultural and political contexts.
Several United Nations Academic Impact member institutions have recognized the pivotal role athletics can play in bridging divides and have undertaken a number of initiatives to capitalize on the unifying power of sport.?
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne offers nearly 50 physical programs that attract more than 4,200 student participants every year. UEFAPS (the physical activity organization at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) is open to all students on campus and offers activities such as soccer, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, kungfu and Tai Chi.?
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Advancing gender equality in sports is also a mission for the Sorbonne. Last year, more than 2,000 female students participated in UEFAPS' programs, outnumbering male participants by nearly 100.
Monmouth University in the United States is happy to participate in promoting Sports for Sustainable Development through several events during the upcoming academic year focusing on gender pay equity in sports and other related themes.
The US women's national soccer team made news earlier this year when they filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation, charging that although they generated $20 million more in profits than the U.S. men's team, they were paid about a quarter what their male counterparts earned.? This reflects the situation of women in professionally sports globally, in which female athletes face numerous challenges including access to basic resources, ability to afford training, gear and other necessities, and sociocultural stereotypes that act as barriers to women's equal participation in sports. Monmouth University hopes to address the sustainable development goal of gender empowerment that can begin in sports, but have a larger overall impact on gender equity and equality globally.
For over ten years, the UK Sport-supported International Development through Excellence and Leadership in Sport project (IDEALS) has placed students from the University of Bath and the Wallace Group - a partnership of universities with a shared ethos towards sport as a positive tool for development, including Bath, Loughborough, Stirling, Durham, Northumbria, St. Andrews and Cardiff Metropolitan - in Zambia to undertake coaching and education through sport in and around Lusaka.
The program is directly supported by the participating organizations and?, the international development charity born out of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games with the aim of inspiring and transforming the lives of young people around the world through the power of sport.? IN is dedicated to using the power of sport to involve, inspire and positively impact upon the lives of children, young people and marginalized groups around the world.
Sport is not a cure-all for development problems, but it is a mirror of society that can bring people together and foster inclusion, understanding and cooperation.?