international day of sport for development and peac
❝ Sport has gradually been recognized and used as a low cost, high impact tool.
Sport can no longer be considered a luxury in our societies, but rather an important investment in the present and the future, especially in developing countries. ❞ - UNESCO -
Why is it important?
This day is an opportunity to highlight the role of sport as a driver of social change, community development, and a factor of peace.
It allows you to reflect on how sport and the Olympic Games have brought people together over the years, creating bridges and fostering understanding.
This International Day would like to recall how much the practice of sport, the one that allows us to combine physical and mental health, also carries an ethic of living together and peace.
"This is the mission of the Olympic Games: to bring us together in peaceful competition. Always build bridges, never erect walls, unite humanity in all its diversity."
Thomas Bach, IOC President, at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games
Peace : Tranquility, calm, absence of conflict / war / violence
Development : Growth, progression
Peace and development are really linked in sport, since it brings health and well-being between individuals. The well-being of each individual makes it possible to live in a peaceful world since if people feel good they will not create conflicts.
It also allows development since the well-being of the inhabitants is an objective in the development of a country. The beneficial effects of sport are numerous: improved quality of life, reduced risk of obesity or chronic diseases, etc.
Physical exercise can have a positive effect on mental health. It improves self-esteem and self-confidence and reduces depression and anxiety. It also helps children and young people make healthy choices, stay active and fight non-communicable diseases.
We appreciate sport's growing contribution to development and peace through the tolerance and respect he advocates; the empowerment of women and young people, of the individual and of the community; and the achievement of health, education and social inclusion goals.
Harnessing its immense potential, the United Nations Office of Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) has a long history of bringing people together through sport and supporting peace-through-sport initiatives by organizing high-profile sporting events. wingspanor local activities.these initiatives help the sport harness its ability to achieve global goals.
Sport helps development because it is a means of learning values.these values help to live in a peaceful world because students acquire essential skills, including team spirit, fair play, respect for rules and others, cooperation, discipline and tolerance.
The idea of integrating physical education as an important part of the school curriculum has been highlighted in the UNESCO international charter on sport and physical activity. this text underlines, in fact, that sport enables children to acquire values such as respect, friendship, team spirit, fair play, self-discipline and social inclusion in a lasting way.
Sport has also been shown to support the empowerment of women, especially girls and young women who are marginalized or have limited social, economic and physical development.
for example, a study in Delhi, India, showed that in entrenched patriarchal social structures, sports-based programs offered girls and young women the opportunity to learn important knowledge related to reproductive health and improve theminsurance, social status and social relationships.Sport and physical education have also become powerful levers for promoting economic equality and gender equality. in particular, they make it possible to strengthen the autonomy of women and young girls, by giving them access to sports activities, by increasing their self-confidence, by helping them to make decisions and to access resources.
Sport has also been used as an effective tool for peacebuilding and conflict resolution. In this approach, it brings disparate groups together.
Sport, which is an important vector of image and brings together millions of practitioners and supporters around the world, can thus play an essential role in the global mobilization for the environment by becoming a lasting example, by inspiring and encouraging its stakeholders to do the same.
Physical activities have largely demonstrated their potential to break down barriers between generations, genders, religions, castes, origins and nationalities. they are, by their universal scope, useful tools for the achievement of many sustainable development goals.
Sport allows those who practice it to come together, regardless of their age, gender, skin color… but also to supporters who also come together without distinction for a common goal: to obtain victory for their favorite team.
Also, sport can mobilize all ages; to have a lasting influence, it must therefore be promoted as an activity that accompanies individuals throughout their lives.
Physical education must, as such, be popularized among young people, the best way being to include it in primary and secondary education, which corresponds well to the principle of quality education advocated in the sustainable development objectives.
Here inclusion enables both peace and development.
In addition, sport and physical education are increasingly used to promote peace, solidarity and social cohesion, especially among young people affected by conflict. they therefore have a vital role to play in some of the Sustainable Development Goals, such as gender equality and the promotion of peace and justice