Sport, development and aid: can sport make a difference?

Abstract

It is the ability to combine sport with other social forces such as education that has facilitated an increased profile for sport with international aid and humanitarian organizations. This article recognizes the role that sport has to play in the field of international development, the promise and possibilities brought about by presidential elections in the United States of America and the distinct poverty traps that some countries continue to face. The lack of growth in those countries that make up the bottom billion of the world's poorest people requires particular strategies for particular circumstances and it is open to question as to whether sport can bring about change or be a resource of hope. Improving life chances requires a coordinated effort and as such any contribution that sport can make must also build upon a wider coalition of sustained support in order to narrow the gap between rich and poor. In a substantive way this article, drawing upon international evidence, notes the potential of education through sport to help with influencing life chances, if not levels of poverty, in the world today.