Sport for a Better World? A Social Scientific Investigation of the Sport for Development and Peace Sector

This project will investigate the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector. SDP features hundreds of programmes and organizations across the world which use sport as a tool of intervention to promote non-sport goals such as development, peace, human rights and social justice. SDP is an increasingly institutionalized sector: its most prominent international advocates include the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) and the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. Other key SDP stakeholders include UK Sport, British Council, governmental departments (e.g. DfID), charities (e.g. Comic Relief), major corporations (e.g. Barclays Bank), sport federations, many non-governmental organizations which coordinate or implement SDP work (e.g. streetfootballworld, Sport and Development platform), and campaigning groups which protest against exploitation or corruption in sport (e.g. Play the Game). SDP programmes have very diverse objectives and scales; the largest initiatives are transnational, involve multiple agencies, and usually aim to meet basic human needs (e.g. peace in war-torn regions).
Despite its rapid growth, we have limited knowledge of how the SDP sector is structured socially and organizationally; and how different kinds of SDP work are planned, implemented and experienced in diverse cultural contexts. This knowledge is essential if robust policies, practices and strategies for the future development of SDP are to be identified. The project aims to fill that knowledge gap by providing the first substantial comparative investigation of SDP, and by having long-term impact on the sector's development.
The project has five main objectives:
1: To examine how the SDP sector is constructed in social and organizational terms, notably by investigating the different policies, networking, and power relations between SDP stakeholders; and, how the sector may become more effective through new types of partnership.
2: To examine SDP work through the comparative investigation of three selected fields of major SDP activity: empowering people with disabilities; promoting peace and conflict resolution; and advancing human rights.
3: To examine SDP programmes, particularly their organization, implementation and user-group experiences. We shall probe how user groups are engaged in planning and implementing SDP work; and, how these and other aspects of the SDP sector develop over time.
4: To examine comparatively SDP work in five selected locations of major SDP activity: Bosnia, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Zambia. We shall explore how SDP work relates to local conditions; whether SDP organizations build ties with other local actors; and, the roles of national and local government in facilitating SDP work.
5: To produce research findings with major non-academic and academic impacts. Findings will explore, for example, future policies, planning and partnerships across SDP organizations; how to adapt SDP 'best practices' to local contexts; and how to enhance ethical practice in SDP work. Findings will be disseminated through publications, reports, presentations, media outlets and an end-of-grant symposium.
The project will:
- build upon our substantial pilot research on SDP;
- benefit from our exceptional research access to leading SDP stakeholders and gatekeepers, notably the Commonwealth Secretariat, UNOSDP, UK Sport and many key NGOs;
- have an international focus, due to the SDP sector's international structure and locations of intervention (notably in developing nations);
- draw mainly on a sociological approach in regard to research questions, methods, and analysis, while having significant links to anthropology and 'studies' research fields in disability, peace, human rights, development and globalization;
- apply qualitative methods, particularly fieldwork in the five research locations and interviews with all types of SDP stakeholder (including user groups);
- run for 24 months.

Types of Beneficiary:
The project has three types of beneficiary:
1: Many diverse SDP organizations with whom we shall work closely (see Case for Support, Pathways to Impact), including our two nominated user groups (Commonwealth Secretariat, United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace); also UK Sport, sport ministries, government departments, International Paralympic Committee, the Sport and Development platform, and streetfootballworld.
2: Many SDP user groups in our research locations e.g. advocacy groups, and individuals and groups marginalized by disability, conflict, and human rights issues.
3: A broader pool of beneficiaries interested in sport's wider social role, including
a) Individuals, groups and organizations currently involved or considering roles in other areas of SDP activity;
b) Key stakeholders (including user groups) in other SDP-related work (e.g. sport and health projects);
c) Policy-makers, journalists and commentators in the public, private or voluntary sectors with interest in development and peace-building issues;
d) General publics, particularly those with sport and/or development and/or peace-building interests.
To assist impact, the project will engage closely with our two nominated user groups and establish a research liaison group, featuring 6-8 key SDP stakeholders (all members of 1, above).

Types of Benefit/Impact:
The project will have three main benefits/impacts in terms of:
1. Enhancing organization of the SDP sector, SDP programme delivery, and the sector's relevance to broader development activity. For example, research will provide practicable recommendations on: future SDP policies that should be pursued at governmental level; how SDP networks may include a more diverse range of stakeholders; how 'best practices' within SDP programmes may be adapted to local contexts; and how SDP organizations may engage more with the wider development sector. Key beneficiaries here (see above) are 1 and 2, also 3 (a, b, c, d).
2. Empowering SDP project user groups and officials, and enhancing their everyday experiences of SDP. These research findings will strongly underpin our analysis and reports to our beneficiaries listed in 1. Key beneficiaries here are 2, 3b; also 1, 3 (a, c, d).
3. Improving public engagement with and understanding of the wider social role of sport, notably by disseminating research findings through mass media and other outlets. In turn, this impact will benefit the SDP sector's future development. Key beneficiaries are 3 (c, d); also 1, 2, 3 (a, b).
Impacts 1-3 are particularly committed to: enhancing the effectiveness of public services and policy, notably in how SDP policies and programmes are planned and delivered, and how the SDP sector is organized and engages with the wider development sector; and enhancing quality of life, health and creative output, notably in how SDP work is conducted, experienced by user groups, and more broadly understood across the policy and public spheres. Thus, the project seeks to analyse how SDP works, to produce results that are theoretically rich and of clear value to beneficiaries.
The project is process-oriented, thus we shall be in continuous dialogue with SDP organizations and user groups (beneficiaries 1 and 2). As research progresses, we shall pass on our early observations and begin to have impacts on SDP programmes and the wider sector (see impacts 1 and 2). Practical and policy findings will be geared to have impact from the end of the project onwards, realistically over several years, as facilitated through, for example, direct feedback to our research liaison group and other SDP organizations, and through dissemination via key outlets (e.g. mass media, SDP symposia, online platforms). See also Pathways to Impact. The RA will have full access to university staff development programmes, and develop extensive research skills in diverse cultural contexts which may be used in other types of employment.