Lausanne hosts 'Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Sport' seminar

Experts from United Nations (UN) agencies, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Sports Federations (IFs) got together at a full day seminar on 5 October 2017 in Lausanne’s Beaulieu Congress Center to discuss the topic of "Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through sport: partnerships and institutional responses for greater coherence and effectiveness". 

The SDGs drive the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and are supported by governments, businesses and civil society, including the sport sector. The goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 and sport is included in the final outcome document as an “important enabler” of sustainable development.

Since then, the UN with its various agencies, the IOC and the IFs have worked together and developed policies to use sport as a tool to contribute to the achievement of the 17 SDGs which address pressing challenges such as poverty, good health, well-being, quality education, gender equality, economic growth and sustainable cities and communities, to name just a few.

A UN spokesman said, "We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives."

The objectives of the dedicated seminar were:

• increase the coherence, convergence and effectiveness of various actions based on the new existing strategic frameworks;
• strengthen the knowledge of key partners about the relation of "SDGs and sport" within the UN system, the IOC, the IFs and other relevant stakeholders for their related activities;
• provide resources, practical tools and information to enable new partnerships; and facilitate networking between the UN system, the IFs and other relevant stakeholders.

Jointly organised by the Cantons of Vaud and Geneva and the Swiss Confederation, under the aegis of the Permanent Swiss Mission to the UN in Geneva, the seminar was also supported by the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology (AISTS) as well as the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva. It built on previous exchanges and working group led activities which followed a successful first edition held in January 2016 in Geneva that brought together some 100 international experts and decision makers from sport and sustainable development.

The seminar featured thematic panels with high-level speakers:

• Introduction: SDGs and Agenda 2030 UNOG and the Swiss Government;
• Panel 1: Sustainability Strategy (IOC, FIFA and IFs);
• Panel 2: Implementation of the SDGs through sport with the introduction of relevant strategies and programmes by UN agencies (UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO and UNICEF, HCR and WHO as well as other regional and international organizations)
• Panel 3: Institutional responses to achieving SDGs through sport via Multi-stakeholders initiatives and other existing Platforms;
• Panels 4 and 5: Economic impact and social inclusion through sustainable sport partnerships (ILO, Council of Europe, The Commonwealth Secretariat, IUCN) and public private partners like Football Club Barcelona and UNIGE. 

With further programmes and conferences across multiple sectors, sport will continue to advance global development assisting in the work towards, and the realisation of, the SDGs. The United Nations envisages sport to do so as an important and powerful tool with the potential to tackle challenges entailed in each of the 17 SDGs.