GIZ joins Public Development Banks and international sport organisations in Sport for Development Coalition

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) and several other development banks, including the West African Development Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Association of National and Development Finance Institutions of the member countries of the Islamic Development Bank (ADFIMI) and the Latin American Association of Development Finance Institutions, as well as organisations of the sport ecosystem such as the International Olympic (IOC) and Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The special session was organised during the Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), an initiative of the World Federation of Development Finance Institutions (WFDFI) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC). The Finance in Common Summit was the first global summit of Public Development Banks (PDBs) and was convened by AFD during the Paris Peace Forum (PPF). The PPF is held every year in Paris with the aim to place global governance at the top of the international agenda.

The main objective of the High-Level event was to improve the cooperation between the world of sport and development actors, specifically of development banks. The event took place right after the opening of the Summit and had three highlights:

1)    Showcase the “Alliance Dioko”, which was created to support the sustainable legacy strategy of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Dakar 2026, the first ever Olympic event on the African continent.

2)    Launch of the “Sport for Development coalition of Public Development Banks and Partners” to “join forces to leverage the considerable power of sport to contribute to global sustainable development, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations”. Coordinated by the AFD, the members of the Coalition will establish a task force to define a common vision, objectives and an action plan.

3)    Launch of the digital platform “Sport en Commun”, which was developed as a service and funding provider and to match projects and PDBs with the mission to “use sport as a vehicle for economic and social development in Africa”.

In the session, Ms. Gönner underlined GIZs broad experience and expertise in the field of Sport for Development and underlined: “Sport is a social experience. It has the power to connect, to emotionalize and to create a playful learning field. Sport can be a unifying tool for peace. We therefore very much welcome the initiative of our friends from AFD and commit to becoming a strong alliance partner in this coalition to further strengthening Sport for Development on the European and international level, and to leverage the considerable power of sport as a tool for sustainable development and peace.”

To review the session and to see the high-level panelists please click here.