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LOCAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORT
Since the 1990s, many projects have been implemented by the IOC and its international and local partners to support development through sport at community level. Each in its own way has been successful in improving people's well-being and access to physical activity. Some of the most recent and important projects are highlighted below.
BRINGING SPORT TO RURAL AND UNDER-PRIVILEGED COMMUNITIES
The IOC and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have joined their efforts to provide increased opportunities for rural communities to have access to sports practice, where there is often no infrastructure and support available. Through these projects, basic sports equipment and light facilities are provided to the communities to play the sport of their choice and be physically active. The aim is not only to encourage recreational activities and promote healthy lifestyles but also to consolidate the community structure and to moderate the exodus from the countryside to the cities. These projects are implemented in close cooperation with the local National Olympic Committees.
Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ecuador, Tanzania, Niger, Mauritania, Guinea, Samoa, and Lao have already benefited from this programme.
The IOC has also cooperated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1996, leading to numerous initiatives of international advocacy to fight for the eradication of poverty, and to the implementation of local sports development projects by NOCs and UNDP representatives.
LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
copyright: NOC of Mozambique
The IOC, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the NOC of Mozambique and the local development agency have implemented a major poverty alleviation and economic development programme for the community of Boane, 250km away from the Mozambique capital.
Support has been provided to pay school fees for over 600 primary school children from under-privileged families and bring them back into the educational system. At the same time, local women have been trained to manufacture school uniforms and to produce groceries to be sold on the local markets, and have formed a cooperative. The OlympAfrica centre, where the programme is being implemented, is also used as a sports training centre for some 1,000 children from the surrounding villages where sport and education courses are taught to them.
REHABILITATION OF WAR VICTIMS
copyright: ICRC
The IOC has initiated, in collaboration with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) a project of rehabilitation through sport, aiming to assist amputees and other persons with disabilities. The project has been carried out in partnership with the Angolan Olympic Committee, the Angolan Paralympic Committee and the Portuguese Paralympic Committee at the orthopaedic centre of Bomba Alta in the Huambo province, Angola.
Eight physiotherapists and sports coaches received special training during three sessions to use sport as a means of rehabilitation, with the overall aim to increase the quality of life for persons in post-conflict situation. They learned the benefits of sport in the rehabilitation process, how to teach and lead sports activity sessions, appropriate techniques for coaching athletes through their rehabilitation and the opportunities that are available in their country for persons with a disability.
In addition, sports equipment was provided to enable the trained professionals to implement what they had learned with the target population throughout the year.
Angola was chosen as the site of this project as it is among the top three most affected countries for landmines in the world. From 1975 to 2002, Angola endured a civil war that led to significant numbers of amputees.