‘International Inspiration’ targets 12M children in 20 countries by 2012
‘International Inspiration’ will be a legacy of the London 2012 Olympics: a target of making available high-quality, inclusive physical education and sport and play to 12 million children in 20 developing nations amongst which is a number of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. Programme Director, Debbie Lye, describes how UK Sport – the United Kingdom Sports Council, set up by Royal Charter in 1996 with a remit to promote development of sport and sport for development – has teamed up for the programme with the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the British Council.
Young woman takes part in UK Sports Council-funded project.
© Matt Bright
It was in Singapore in 2006 at the clinch presentation of bids to host the Olympic Games in 2012 that Sebastian Coe – Lord Coe – leader of London’s successful made a pledge that a London Games would reach out to children worldwide. The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) subsequently chaired a think-tank on how to honour that promise, describes Debbie Lye. To date DCMS has contributed £280,000, the United Nations’ Children’s Fund has contributed £1.45M, The Premier League £4.2M, and the British Council, £2.85M.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Para Olympic Games (LOCOG), together with the British Olympic Association (BOA), wanted the pilot programme to include one country from each of the five continents represented by the Olympic rings. The progamme for an initial five countries kicked off in October 2007: Azerbaijan (Europe)*; Brazil (Americas); India (Asia); Palau (Oceania) and Zambia (Africa), with the aim of enabling a further 15 countries to follow. Debbie Lye describes how the choice of countries has been based on a balance between need and the country’s existing capacity to take things forward. She describes how UK Sport has been able to use the expertise of UNICEF – which has ongoing anti-poverty strategies targeting children in developing nations – and the British Council with its 110 offices worldwide. The British Council’s ‘Dreams + Teams’ intiative has trained young sports leaders in schools who organise festivals of sport for younger children and do everything from communicating via the internet to announcing festivals of sport, setting timetables and drawing lines on pitches. Put this together with UK Sport’s proven success in running sports programmes worldwide and you have a unique and wide-reaching partnership.
“What we are aiming to do with ‘International Inspiration’ is to reach policy-makers, institutions where the sports can take place, practitioners such as teachers and participants”, says Debbie Lye. She refers to the research work done by Professor Fred Coalter of the University of Stirling, Scotland, who has said that there cannot be effective sport for development if there is not good quality sport in place. “You can’t give this youth group a football and expect wonderful things to happen. There must be good quality coaches and an understanding of how the principles of sport can be used developmentally”, says Debbie Lye. She adds: “There is a slight propensity to use sport simplistically.”
Scoping visits
She explains how the programme works in practice. A‘scoping visit’ to the targeted country is firstly arranged to assess a country’s needs. “When we go and do a scoping visit, we know the questions to ask and do prior research to ensure we understand the country context and areas of need. We sit down with UNICEF and British Council staff and share our understanding of programmes and we then have the opportunity to meet key professionals and decision makers and we begin the debate about what International Inspiration can help them to achieve. Finally, we encourage them to set up a steering committee when we leave.” Ministries of sport and Education, as well as the Olympic and Paralympic associations in respective countries are all key consultees.
She describes the programme already underway in India where UNICEF plans to launch a national campaign around, sport and play to showcase the work they are doing in International Inspiration, facilitating training for community leaders and creating safe spaces to play. “You’re not going to get Wembley (the UK’s national stadium) or a perfectly-laid cricket pitch but you can provide somewhere you can keep the grass mowed and snakes and broken glass away and provide simple equipment like basketball hoops, a volleyball net and community ownership of these”, she says. For this to happen, she continues, there’s a need for a degree of training intervention both at school and community level in creating such environments. UNICEF is also taking the programme out to communities, to slums and villages and is preparing advocacy materials in indigenous languages. “UNICEF India like it so much that they are taking the campaign to all states and the multiplying effect is potentially huge”, she says.
Programmes for the initial five coutnries are now in their final year. Scoping visits have already been undertaken in another eight countries with the intention that in future the partners will work ever more closely together. UK Sport is integrating its work within the British Council plans from day one, and the British Council and UNICEF are co-ordinating from the outset in each country in order to ensure a more holistic approach to planning and implementation.
The three further countries already approved by the board are Mozambique, Jordan and Bangladesh. Another two programmes, in Ghana and Trindidad and Tobago, are due to start by the end of the year. Other countries at the beginning of the planning process are South Africa, Malaysia and Nigeria.
In the current economic crisis funding the whole programme to the level envisaged will present a challenge, explains Debbie Lye. However, an impressive £23.9M of the £50M projected budget has been raised to date. UNICEF is currently leading the drive to raise money from non-government sources but the fundraising targets will be tough to meet. International Inspiration, which was supported into being by the UK government, is now governed through an independent charitable foundation to give it the drive and expert focus it needs to achieve its ambitious vision.
*Azerbaijan is considered as part of the greater Europe for the project.
