Sports And Development Research Paper Examples

The first two articles explore the evolving use of sports and sporting events as strategy for facilitating development and peace. These initiatives are collectively known as “sports, development and peace” (SDP) programs. Both articles focus on the investigation of the research that has been completed on SDP programs; what the research has proven (or not proven) and what gaps, if any, in the research exist. The first article’s survey of the relevant SDP research finds that the potential for sports to positively affect development and peace is large. Nonetheless, the research also shows that there is a substantial likelihood that if an SDP program is not carefully crafted and implemented it may have a negative effect or at a minimum, sustain prior negative habits. Moreover, the article found that much of the research that has been done was not performed in a manner that can easily draw conclusions or best practices. Accordingly, the article suggests more research is needed to attain more evidence-based and practical results. The second article, in contrast, endeavors to illustrate potential of SDP programs by focusing on their transnational complexity and the individual motivations of people working in the SPD field. Through interviews and fieldwork, rather than concentrating on the literature, the author emphasized the personal reflections (hopes, aspirations, problems) of people doing SDP work. In the end, as with the first article, there is broad potential for SDP programs to bring people together through the development of common interests and attitudes, coalition building and partnerships. But there is also potential for problems between SDP programs and other development programs and the inability of SDP personnel to interact with wider social movements.
According to the third and fourth articles, SDP programs have been around since the 1990s but have increasingly gained interest since the early 2000s as the “international cooperation and development activities” for sports federations, sports organizations and sports teams have similarly increased. However, according to the third article the unorganized and informal development of SDP programs has affected the potential benefit that they could have. Accordingly, the article suggests that a more focus needs to be put on the development of SDP programs at the international level such as through: the United Nations and its relevant agencies including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; the UN’s ability to draw attention and raise awareness to specific issues of importance through its designations of “International Years;” and the UN’s ability to influence the actions of individual nations. While acknowledging the history of SDP programs, the second article seeks to determine whether they have lived up to the fundamental ideal of promoting development and peace. In accomplishing this, the article investigates a number of SDP programs at the international, transnational and national level to understand how they developed, what their goals were; whether they were able to achieve their goals; as well as any problems or successes they achieved. According to the authors of the articles, their purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of current and past SDP programs in order to build better SDP programs for tomorrow.
In contrast to the broad scope of previous four articles, the last two articles focus on individual SDP programs and principles as a means of analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of SDP programs to accomplishing their goals. The fifth article focuses on an SDP football (soccer) program in Sierra Leone whose goal was to help fighters turn away from violence and a war-mentality while assisting them reintegrate into society as normal members of the community. In running the SDP program, the author found that it did have a positive effect in decreasing violence among the participants, decreasing conflict between opposing groups and one of the more popular activities among participants in their overall reintegration procedures. On the other hand, the authors found that SDP on their own would be an ineffective peace-building tool. In contrast, the author argues that SDP programs, in combinations with other peace-building efforts, such as reformation of economic and politic obstacles to peace, could form an effective approach. The sixth article focuses on using SDP programs as a way to educate youth on a wide range of issues ranging from personal health, sexual responsibility and anti-violence. As an example, the author points to an SDP program, administered by the Zambian government, which integrated HIV/AIDS education with physical education for children through middle school. According to the author, because most children in the nation stay in school at least until middle school, the potential reach of the program is tremendous. According to the author SDP programs have the potential to become social movements that can positively affect the thinking and attitudes of children and teenagers. However, in order for the program to reach their full potential national governments must take the lead in funding, advocating for and facilitating the growth of SDP programs.