The Benefits and Challenges of Sport for Social Change

• Promoting Health and Preventing Disease

SSC actions can help prevent and manage chronic or infectious disease by increasing physical fitness and improving mental health. Typical outcomes include reduced anxiety, a greater sense of wellbeing, and less social isolation. In a holistic approach, sport can improve living standards and confidence by supporting both physical and mental wellbeing.

• Child, Youth and Development Education

Physical activity is vital to the holistic development of young people—physical, social, and emotional. Providing physical education inside and outside schools builds life competences. Youth-focused sport programmes seek to improve living standards by meeting basic developmental needs and building capabilities for adult life; they help translate values into everyday practice.

• Inclusion and Wellbeing of Persons with Disabilities

SSC programmes secure active participation of people with disabilities. Disability inclusion means ensuring equal opportunities and removing barriers so everyone can participate fully. Development activities promote fair treatment and inclusive involvement for all.

• Gender Equity Promotion (especially women and girls)

SSC activities encourage equal contribution without gender discrimination: every participant has the same rights and obligations. Initiatives respect participants’ gender and ensure equitable opportunities. Physical and mental health are used as vehicles for promoting equity as a fundamental right.

• Social Inclusion, Enhancement, and Peace-building

In contexts marked by conflict or crisis, SSC supports the restart of community life and inclusive participation. While sport alone cannot resolve conflict, it can help rebuild trust and social ties, provide safe spaces, and support dialogue across divides. Conflict resolution, peace-building and fair engagement in social life are central aspirations of SSC initiatives.

• Realistic Expectations

Sport is not a guarantee of peace or development, nor a blueprint for solving major problems. SSC programmes are best seen as contributing actors in wider strategies. Properly supported, they can create opportunities for contact, dialogue, and relationship-building across boundaries.

• Design in situ

Design must start from the local context and the needs of intended participants. Assess desired outcomes with the community, schedule around real constraints, and evaluate success against what beneficiaries value.

• Difficulty Addressing All Socio-economic Problems

Many SSC organisations rely on external donors, which can constrain content or priorities. Build clear strategies and realistic scopes; seek diversified funding; and protect programme integrity with transparent governance.

• Implementation and Sustainability

The SSC environment shifts with global agendas (e.g., SDGs). Align projects with current frameworks, plan for continuity, and embed sustainability from the start (capacity-building, partnerships, volunteer pipelines, light MEL).

Barriers are often multidimensional—social, cultural, economic, linguistic, legal and institutional. Recognising these early lets you build inclusion into design.

• Cultural norms & gender expectations: limited acceptance of women’s sport; lack of women-only or culturally sensitive spaces.
• Language & communication: missing multilingual info; limited intercultural skills among facilitators.
• Socio-economic constraints: fees, transport, childcare, time; competing priorities (work, integration tasks).
• Legal/administrative: residence status or documents restricting access to facilities/programmes.
• Discrimination & stereotyping: low confidence, fear of prejudice, feeling of “not fitting in.”

Intentional design turns barriers into inclusion pathways for migrant women:

• Opportunity for Connection: shared activity builds friendships and mutual understanding across divides.
• Opportunity for Expression: supportive spaces allow identity and emotions to be expressed; confidence grows.
• Opportunity for Belonging: regular sessions create routine, purpose and mutual support (teams, clubs, groups).
• Opportunity for Growth: teamwork, communication and resilience; link sport to language, education or vocational training.
• Opportunity for Leadership: progression into roles such as coach, mentor, volunteer, or organiser inspires others.