The role of sport in providing quality education and building durable, just and sustainable peace – the lessons from Covid

Since the first COVID-19 lockdown, the psychological impact resulting from the restrictions of human movement, disruption to communal activities outside people’s households and the uncertain return to our normal ways of living have been linked to a global increase in mental health problems. Such problems have been prevalent among young people are aged between 15 to 29, who are estimated to form 15% of the world’s population. The Covid lockdown has disproportionately affected millions of young people worldwide, with public health restrictions and socio-economic disruptions having a devastating impact on their education, mental health, career prospects, safety, and personal development.

Initially, children, adolescents and young adults were considered less vulnerable to the virus, but developments during the pandemic have shown otherwise. A World Vision investigation ?revealed three key factors that Covid-19 has changed in the lives of children and young people on a massive scale: school disruption, emotional distress due to social distancing and increasing levels of poverty. The same research highlighted isolation and loneliness of young people because of school closures, on top of the disruption of their learning and daily routines. In addition, there is an acknowledgement of emotional distress and troubling feelings, linked to the uncertainty about how long the crisis and imposed isolation would last and the disruptions already caused to education, livelihoods, development, safety and mental health. Furthermore, the multi-layered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced among young people include observing struggling families members, part of fraught communities and being located in places, nations without financial support structures such as the furlough system in several developed nations.

?The recent increase in cases of depression, illness, disability and suicide among young people is attributed to the deteriorating mental well-being caused by the pandemic (WEF, 2021). Pre pandemic, suicide was ranked as the third most common cause of death in 15-to-19-year-olds (WHO). A 2020 Sapien Labs survey conducted in eight English-speaking countries but capturing responses from people in 130 countries, reveals that the risk of young people suffering from a clinical mental health disorder varies according to geographical location. To counter the repercussions on mental health in youth, the Sapien Labs report suggests lifting the measures that have led to the social isolation of young people and makes a case for sleep and exercise which are effective in boosting mental health. Given the longstanding recommendations from medical professionals about sleep and physical exercise, it is pertinent to explore a holistic engagement through sports to ensure that children, adolescents and young adults are taught techniques and approaches on life skills and enjoy physical activity that help them sleep better, and have a better balance of mental health and social engagement. Sport has this vital, unifying role to play in bringing people together and promoting inclusion, health, discipline, and teamwork. However, such outcomes can only be realised when deliberate conditions are created to enable participants a chance to achieve the intended outcomes. The authors are wary of the dark-side of sport too.

In addressing the current challenges particularly brought about by Covid-19 to do with youth isolation, exclusion, and violence prevention, the project spearheaded by the IFRC in partnership with the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s human and social legacy project Generation Amazing Foundation (GA), is a key catalyst for engaging young people and contributing towards development and peace, targeting the most disadvantaged whilst creating a space for engagement and empowerment.?

The project is a unique hybrid of Football for Development (F4D) – GA’s flagship program that empowers and educates future generations around the globe to address vulnerability, health and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability – together with ?Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change (YABC) - the IFRC’s flagship initiative on the promotion of a culture of non-violence and peace (CNV+P), that equips young people with socio-emotional life skills, empowering them to take up an ethical leadership role in inspiring a positive transformation of mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors, both within themselves and their communities.

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Through the project, young people not only experience personal transformation but create an external ripple of change. As they navigate their leadership journey, they will learn powerful skills around discipline, healthy living, teamwork, and engage with their local networks in meaningful ways. By doing so, they will create change in their schools, neighbourhoods, and the broader world by implementing solutions to some of the most challenging problems of our time from a community-based lens; with the initiator of this being the F4D combined with the YABC approach and additional educational processes and thematic areas. The project is currently being trialed with Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies in Argentina, Iraq, Myanmar and Uganda, testing outcomes identified in the multi-country project design to assess the effectiveness and impact of combining the IFRC’s YABC and GA’s F4D initiatives. To truly engage with communities and influence long-term change, they must feel a sense of ownership in the development process, rather than prescribing social interventions that are not aligned to their social realities. The IFRC/GA programming involves understanding of the local context via a problem tree and objective approach, and co-design of interventions that offer disadvantaged communities access to a set of skills to empower them to become the next change makers in their communities

IFRC and GA believe that young people represent the single greatest untapped resource for positive change across the globe. They are ready to change the world. Sport is one of the great commonalities of human beings. There are more people that watch and play sports than any other human activity. Tapping into the power of sports, brings together people from around the world, to share ideas and experience a diverse range of cultures. Through this project both partners want to show that sport and socio-emotional life skills will equip this generation of young people with the necessary skills and mindsets to change the world for the better –not someday in the future –right now. They are hungry to lead and imagine innovative approaches to make their communities healthier, safer, and more inclusive, while writing new narratives of who they are and what they are capable of. ?

Amjad Mohamed Saleem, Manager – Inclusion, Protection and Engagement Unit, IFRC Geneva

Nasser Al Khori – Programmes Director at Generation Amazing Foundation

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