Sport and physical activity can contribute to social and economic development in communities around the world. From informal pick-up matches on the street, to organized leagues and federations —  when people play, coach, train, and support their favourite athletes and teams — a sense of shared strength, personal growth and an overall healthier society grows.

With this kind of philosophy in mind, the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (SDP IWG) asked Bruce Kidd, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health, to take the lead on a literature review designed to inform policy makers around the world.  The document contains findings and input from top sports researchers, including academics from the U of T and the Faculty of Physical Education and Health.

SDP IWG is a four-year policy initiative that includes representatives from 25 national governments, UN and civil society actors who are working to develop policy recommendations that will incorporate sport as a tool for development in national and international programs and strategies.

In 2007 the Secretariat to the SDP IWG commissioned a team coordinated by Kidd to conduct literature reviews examining ways that sport: fosters child and youth development and education; achieves health objectives; promotes gender equity; fosters inclusion, health and well-being of people with disabilities; fosters social cohesion; prevents and reduces conflict and builds peace.

The project is now complete. “Our ultimate goal, as a team of researchers, is to ensure that the work that is being done throughout the world in the name of sport for development and peace is informed by what we know and what we don’t know,” says Kidd. “I am proud that our Faculty and the University of Toronto have contributed to this timely project.”
 
Peter Donnelly, director of the Centre for Sport Policy Studies here at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health, contributed his work entitled, “The use of sport to foster child and youth development and education,” which was written with the assistance of graduate students Simon Darnell and Sandy Wells.

“Peace, sport and development” was written by Bruce Kidd, with the assistance of graduate student Maggie MacDonnell.

Literature from other faculties and groups at the University of Toronto were also part of the project. Darnell and fellow graduate student Donald Njelesani  contributed to a paper entitled, “The use of sport and physical activity to achieve health objectives,” which was contributed by David Zakus, director of the Centre for International Health here at U of T. “Gender, sport and development,” by June Larkin, director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute, was included and written with the assistance of the Faculty’s graduate students Sabrina Razack and Fiona Moola. Work from U of T’s Penny Parnes — director of the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation — is also cited in the review document.

Click here to read the release from the International Platform on Sport and Development and to download the Literature Reviews on Sport, Development and Peace.