International Year of Sport and Physical Education 2005, Expected Results

Overall the IYSPE 2005 will strive to achieve “a better understanding of the value of sport and physical education for human development and a more systematic use of sport in develop­ment programmes.”

Sport becomes a partner in development. The IYSPE 2005 provides the international community with an opportunity to promote the value of sport as a partner for the achievement of development and peace goals.

Sport for all is recognized as a national priority. It strives to expand the perception of “sport” by the general public and at the Government level, emphasizing the notion of “sport for all”. This is a particular issue for developing countries where the promotion of elite sport and the achievement of results at international sports competitions are considered a way of promoting national unity and a country’s value and competitiveness.

The IYSPE 2005 is expected to demonstrate that a fraction of the resources allocated to elite sport, if allocated to sport activities accessible for all, will have a significant impact on the general health conditions and well being of a large portion of a national population.

Sport is recognised as an integral part of quality education. It is expected that IYSPE 2005 will illustrate the importance of sport and physical education for a quality education. Though an essen­tial component of quality education and an integral part of lifelong learning, physical education is continuously loosing ground in formal education systems. The neglect of physical education reduces the quality of learning, with negative future impacts on public health and health budgets. Given that rates of physical activity tend to decrease from adolescence, it is imperative that young people gain an appreciation of sport at school in order to ensure lifelong active and healthy living.

Sport-related private sector becomes more involved in human development. It is expected that the sport-related private sector (sporting goods manufacturing industry) and international sports federations grow more interested in human development and peace building issues. This can be achieved through the development of private – public partnerships with United Nations system organisations and an increased sharing of information at all levels.

Sport-based initiatives for development and peace are supported, monitored and evaluated. Initiatives will be encouraged to use sport as a means of promoting inter-cultural, post-conflict and peace-building dialogue. It is expected that these efforts will be evaluated and lessons will be learned and disseminated. To date, evidence of the validity of such initiatives remains anecdotal. Such efforts are often considered non-essential and non-life-saving and are therefore only little funded and insufficiently documented. The aim is to have solid evidence to make the case for sport-based initiatives promoting sustainable peace and development. This shall allow the implementa­tion of such initiatives to be better integrated and more systematic. To achieve this, additional sci­entific research into sport-based initiatives is required. The research should be supported during IYSPE 2005 and reports widely disseminated and promoted.

A common framework is developed. In view of the various contributions to IYSPE 2005, it is nec­essary to develop a common framework to unite the United Nations system and its partners to fur­ther sport for education, health, development and peace in a coordinated way. The overarching objective should be to systematically mainstream sport into existing activities, programmes, and projects wherever relevant.