“Sport empowers youth, promotes good health and deepens UN values such as equality, mutual respect and fair play. Sport helps us in spreading messages of peace, driving social change and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. This International Day will highlight the potential of sport to advance human rights, eliminate barriers and promote global solidarity.”
Ban Ki-moon
With these words the General Secretary Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the first International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. In a historic decision on August 23rd 2013, in fact, the UN General Assembly established this International Day that will be celebrated each year on 6th April. The choice of the date of 6 April can be explained by the fact that on this date in 1896 the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens. Moreover, it was on 6th April 2002 that the Assembly of the World Health Organization, in its resolution WHA 55.23, urged Member States to celebrate a “Move for Health Day” each year to promote physical activity as essential for health and well-being.
Albeit sport is a cultural phenomenon and a mirror of society it has also negative side effects, nowadays sport plays a significant role as a promoter of social integration and economic development in different geographical, cultural and political contexts. Sport is a powerful tool to strengthen social ties and networks. It is our means to communicate ideals of peace and solidarity.
CESIE contributes to defend and communicate sports values through projects and training courses, among which we would like to mention:
SPLUS – Sport Plus: looking up new goals – a Training Course that will involve youth workers, project or youth leaders, interested in sport issues and in the use of sport as an educational tool to promote inclusion. It will take place at Convento di Baida, from June 7th to 15th . 40 will be the participants from different EU and EU neighbouring countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, UK and Italy. The TC aims at providing participants with new skills and knowledge to use sport as educational tool to promote inclusion especially of people with fewer opportunities. It will raise awareness about EU measures in the field of sport under the new Erasmus + thus providing participants with knowledge and competences to develop new youth sport projects.
