ERASMUS+ Policy Advocacy for Sport and Society (PASS)

European Policy, dating back to the 2011 White Paper on Sport, has regularly highlighted sport’s potential contribution to inclusion, education, equality, and common values. On the ground, the European sport sector has responded to and aligned with these policy goals, especially within the burgeoning sport for development (SFD) movement, a movement which seeks to intentionally use the power of sport to promote positive social development. To do so, these organisations often deliver sport and social activities aimed at bringing different groups together, fostering social relations, encouraging civic participation and developing life skills.

Yet a crucial challenge has emerged for many of these programmes and activities. Though these activities aim to promote inclusion, diversity and common values by working directly with often vulnerable or at-risk groups, their impact can be limited by a lack of alignment and support from policy or institutional actors in their communities. This is problematic for two reasons. First, there may be a simple lack of awareness or alignment between relevant policies and the programmes being delivered, which in turn undermines the impact and sustainability of the programme. Second, policies or environmental conditions within a community may actively work against the outcomes targeted by the programmes.

Policy advocacy is crucial as it provides a bottom-up, civil society-led contribution to the formation of relevant policies and helps make vital, relevant information available to key stakeholders who may influence public policy. Despite these calls, there is limited understanding of or support for policy advocacy connecting sport and social development within Europe. The Policy Advocacy for Sport and Society (PASS) project seeks to address this gap by developing a comprehensive set of tools and resources to raise awareness and capacity for policy advocacy within the crucial and growing sport and social development sector. As such, the PASS project will support European sport and social development actors so that they can increase their participation and engagement in democratic life, and enable them to use that engagement to sustainably promote education, equality and European values in and through sport. In other words, this project aims to improve civic participation and engagement in democratic life within the field of sport and social development, and in turn use this increased engagement to advocate for and support education, equality and shared values within European communities.

In particular, the PASS project seeks to achieve these aims through three inter-related objectives:

Map current practices and challenges around policy advocacy in the European sport and social development sector.
Increase awareness around the benefits and practices concerning policy advocacy in sport
Build capacity and enable European sport and social development actors to engage in policy advocacy activities.

To do so, PASS will rely on a broad mix of partners (academic, sport-based network organisations, international civil/governmental stakeholders and implementing NGO’s) to help map out current advocacy activities, understand best practices, and provide concrete tools for practitioners.