Think Tank Olympic Refuge Foundation
More than 80 million people worldwide are currently living in the context of forced displacement. This includes people displaced within the borders of their own country, as well as refugees and asylum-seekers. The overwhelming majority (85%) live in resource-poor environments and weakened health systems, while facing a rapidly increasing burden of non-communicable diseases. Limited access to education or employment can lead to additional disadvantages, while stressors both before and after migration increase the risk of poor health, including poor mental health.
Sport (and physical activity more broadly) is increasingly recognized as a cross-cutting strategy for the delivery of a range of health and psychosocial interventions. The International Society for Physical Activity and Health has identified 8 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that physical activity can contribute to, including SDG3 (Health and Wellbeing), SDG4 (Quality Education), SDG5 (Gender Equality), SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG16 (Peace and Justice). Therefore, sports and physical activity programs in forced displacement situations can impact humanitarian, development and peace outcomes, the intersection of which is commonly referred to as the triple nexus. However, facilitating access to safe sport related to displacement encompasses many areas, including protection, education and health. This can result in a siled and ad hoc approach to programming, research and evaluation that limits the effectiveness and effectiveness of efforts to ensure access to sport for all people living in refugee situations. Additionally, as the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted participation in sport at all levels, an interdisciplinary effort is needed to promote its benefits as part of a holistic response to the needs of displaced people.
ORF supports the protection, inclusion and empowerment of young people affected by displacement (including displaced persons and their host communities). It was founded in 2017 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). ORF’s vision is a society to which everyone belongs, through sport. Its goal is to provide safe sport access to 1 million young people (aged 10-24) affected by displacement by 2024. The Foundation applies the principles set out in the Sport for Protection Toolkit 2018, which was launched in collaboration with the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the IOC and Terre des Hommes. The toolkit provides a practical resource for interdisciplinary practitioners working with sport to improve outcomes for young displaced persons, including theoretical and step-by-step practical guidance.
The think tank ORF was launched in 2020 to promote the understanding and uptake of sport, to support positive outcomes for young people affected by displacement, including protection, psychosocial well-being and mental health, and to promote inclusion support financially. The think tank includes academics, practitioners, people with lived experience from international development and emergency contexts, as well as clinicians (psychiatry, psychology, physical therapy and exercise physiology), child protection advocates, educators and post-conflict intervention coordinators. This diversity of expertise provides a substantial opportunity to break down sectoral silos to use sport more effectively in situations of forced displacement by developing a shared understanding of the barriers and opportunities to improve programming, to foster cross-disciplinary and sectoral collaboration and evidence to generate for implementation.
In June 2021, members of the think tank participated in short recorded interviews. They were invited to share their vision of the potential role of sport in humanitarian contexts and to reflect on lessons learned and implications for sport promotion in the context of forced displacement. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a condensed version of thematic analysis. Nineteen members of the think tank participated in interviews, and five core themes, though overlapping, were identified: (1) sport as a mechanism for holistic and inclusive humanitarian interventions; (2) the crucial role of cultural context; (3) sports structures, from grassroots organizations to politics; (4) rigor and establishing an evidence base; and (5) addressing of micro-connections, meso-connections and macro-connections.
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