This week, on October 29 and 30, 2024, GIZ’s Sport for Development in the Western Balkans, together with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), invited participants to a conference on “Regional Cooperation and Youth Empowerment through Sport” in Skopje, North Macedonia. 

The German government, (international) organizations, companies, athletes and activists pledged to foster collaboration for more sustainability in and through sport at the “Football for Sustainability Summit” in Berlin in from 11-12 July 2024. How can sport contribute to sustainable development around the world? This overarching question lead the participants through the two days of the summit. 

The 5th edition of the "Future Leaders in Football Camp" invited 18 inspiring young women from 15 countries around the globe to Berlin this July. Over the course of the camp, participants had the unique opportunity to engage with distinguished speakers from the world of sports, management, public relations, and beyond. Together, they explored the challenges of emerging as female leaders in the traditionally male-dominated spheres of sports and football.

The sport industry enjoys a pedigree of different sectors which contribute to overall economic landscape of a country. In this regard, further development and research into such topics is needed, especially in the field of Sport for Development (S4D). To understand this phenomenon in depth, a comprehensive study was undertaken by the German Sport University in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) about the impact of the sport industry in partner countries. The methodology of the study included an analysis of the sport sector’s relevance, and its impact on certain economic elements, such as employment, GDP, and economic growth.

On Friday 9 June, the final panel of judges for the "Women in Sport Entrepreneurship" competition, set up by Sport Impact and GIZ-S4DA, met in Dakar. After a pre-selection phase in May, during which several applications were received from African women entrepreneurs in the sports sector in Senegal, three nominees were given the opportunity to present their project orally to a panel of judges in the hope of winning a financial grant of €15,000.

The "From Field to Fanshop" initiative, which was launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) together with the textile company Brands Fashion, travelled to India for a kick-off visit to the project region. The initiative includes nine soccer clubs from the 1st

Think about all the women and girls in your life. Read these figures again. Let that sink in…

The COVID pandemic has exasperated violence against women, especially younger women aged 18-49. Women in rural areas, mothers, and unemployed women are most impacted by the pandemic compared to other women. This is why having an intersectional lens is essential. Women are not all the same.

We are thrilled to launch the “Guideline Sport for Development and Human Rights” as a resource for all practitioners, researchers and interested individuals in “Sport for Development” (S4D). Human Rights have received increasing attention in the context of sport over the past years

The African Union Sports Council (AUSC), the specialized technical office of the African Union (AU) responsible for sport, is conducting a survey to map governmental and non-governmental organizations, networks, and programs focused on promoting the empowerment of girls and women through sport, physical education and physical activity in Africa. Participation in the survey is open to those over the age of 18, who are actively engaged in the aforementioned areas.

The new partnership will focus on training, capacity building, and providing technical assistance to optimize the design and implementation of Table Tennis for Development projects and programmes.

Last week marked the end of the Sport for Mental Health and Social Cohesion project, the result of a unique collaborative effort by FIFA, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), work on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

As part of the longstanding cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German Sport University (GSU) has been investigating the current status of academic work and cooperation in the field of Sport for Development.

We are not only celebrating International Women's Day on 8 March, but are also using GIZ Gender Week to present strong women from our S4D activities. Take a look for yourself and support us to #breakthebias!

We are celebrating International Women's Day on 8 March by giving our female changemakers a stage during our Gender Week. The fight against gender inequality is everyone's business - and all together can achieve equal opportunities. We start with Mariam and Veronique, who tell us how they fought the sporting bias.

The Agence française de développement (AFD), the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the German Development Cooperation (BMZ/GIZ) have joined forces to finance the "Sport for Mental Health and Social Cohesion" (SMHSC) programme in response to the Covid pandemic. A total of 13 projects were selected for support. The contribution of FIFA valued football-based projects.

The Agence française de développement (AFD), the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the German Development Cooperation (BMZ/GIZ) have joined forces to finance the "Sport for Mental Health and Social Cohesion" (SMHSC) programme in response to the Covid pandemic. A total of 13 projects were selected for support. The contribution of FIFA valued football-based projects.

Thanks to the partnership with German development cooperation, the Olympic Refuge Foundation can extend its programme in Uganda to the Kyangwali refugee settlement. The aim is to strengthen the mental health and well-being of young refugees through "Sport for Protection" activities to mitigate the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. 

Why do we care so much about celebrating the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence as the Sport for Development project?

According to UN Women, one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence, and only 40 percent seek help of any sort afterwards. The annual international campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” 

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Coalition "Sustainable Development through Sport", the successes of the first year are shared and the new website of the Coalition was launched. 

The Finance in Common Summit 2021 took place from 19 to 20 October. After the launch of the Coalition Sustainable Development through Sport last year, this time the focus was on the question "What contribution can sport make to sustainable development?" Axel Klaphake (Director Economic and Social Development, GIZ) took part in the panel discussion. 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are launching the Sport for Mental Health and Social Cohesion (SMHSC) programme.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are launching the Sport for Mental Health and Social Cohesion (SMHSC) programme. 

The GIZ S4D - Jordan Youth Leadership Programme empowers motivated young people of diverse backgrounds to initiate sport and play activities for fellow youth and children within their communities. The aim is to increase civic engagement of youth in ‘Sport for Development’ to promote social change in targeted communities. Over the last three years, 37 youth leaders from six different areas in Jordan have joined the programme and have acquired the necessary knowledge and skills to deal with kids and youth following the safeguarding policy and to develop and implement activity plans that meet local needs.

The ‘Werkstattgespräch’ (workshop discussion) took place in virtual format on the evening of 6 June 2021. Workshop discussions are a fixed event format of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The aim of the series of events is an open exchange on changing topics in order to create space for input, discussion and suggestions for the further development of the topic area – this time under the headline of ‘Daring more sustainability - How sport promotes development’.

In a joint virtual event, GIZ and DOSB highlighted the role of sport in development cooperation with a special focus on social cohesion. The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated how the lack of educational opportunities, violent conflicts and lack of health care especially affects the situation of children and youth around the world. It is precisely in this situation that innovative approaches to solving societal challenges are needed. In this context, sport, with its inspiring power, has a special role to play: it creates better future prospects for children and young people and strengthens social cohesion.

It was kick-off time for 22 Future Leaders in Football on Monday, 7^th June starting the 5-day virtual leadership course as part of GIZ’s Sport for Development activites. In the context of the EURO 2020 to be held from 11^th June – 11^th July 2021 in 12 of Europe’s most iconic places the idea was to bring together the Future Leaders in Football and develop together the tools and knowledge to become changemakers in their organisations and communities.

Reflection makes the difference between a Sport for Development (S4D) session and a regular sport session. Without reflection, there will be neither a connection nor a transfer of competences to daily life situations and, therefore, there will be no impact. The Reflection Guideline for S4D Training Sessions helps you to understand the importance of reflection for competence and life skill development as well as for recollecting of what was learned during the session.

Approaching the end of the turbulent year 2020 the S4D team on Social Inclusion through Sport in the Western Balkan Region is proud to publish the jointly developed Course Outline for a basic level Training of Trainers. It is aimed to support the S4D instructors to pass on the basic principles of S4D and better structure their trainings for teachers, sport coaches and social workers...

On 11 November 2020, GIZ participated in a special session entitled “Mobilisation of Development Finance for Sustainable Sport” and joined the Sport for Development Coalition. This is an initiative spearheaded by the Agence Française de Développent (AFD)