News article
Utilising sport for the sustainable development of cities
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UN-Habitat have welcomed four cities from Jordan, Brazil, Egypt and Ghana to the Sport for Sustainable Urban Development Initiative.
The purpose of UN-Habitat is to promote sport and physical activity in urban environments.
Each of the four cities will now work alongside the Australian city of Brisbane, which was the first city to join the initiative in December 2023. The cities will receive seed funding to improve infrastructure for sport, physical activity and active recreation, and to deliver accessible sports participation programmes.
Training will also be delivered to local organisations to help them implement initiatives that contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in urban areas.
It is hoped that roughly 25,000 people will be able to access new opportunities to participate in safe and inclusive sport through the initiative.
The announcement comes as the result of a five-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the IOC and UN-Habitat, which was signed in July this year. The IOC and UN-Habitat will also work together to develop a technical resource package that will provide guidance to cities on integrating sport, physical activity and active recreation into a sustainable urban development process.
This guide is set to be presented at the World Urban Forum in the Egyptian city of Cairo from November 4-8.
The Sport for Sustainable Urban Development Initiative is part of the IOC’s Olympism365 strategy, which utilises sport to promote sustainable development. The programme will further support UN-Habitat’s flagship programmes, ‘SDG Cities’ and ‘Inclusive Communities, Thriving Cities’.
It is predicted that the world’s population accommodated in cities and urban areas is set to grow from 55% to 70% by 2050. Through their efforts, the IOC and UN-Habitat hope to empower local communities, while also highlighting the importance of sport for the sustainable development of cities.
Image: Brisbane Local Marketing on Unsplash