Vision 2030 and the Role of Sport in Achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals
Since 2009 SportWorks has worked tirelessly to address health and educational inequality through the medium of sport. We are therefore delighted to announce that our ‘Vision 2030’ strategy will align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Vision 2030 sets out our strategic direction over the coming years and provides the foundation by which our decisions are made. By so doing, it aligns SportWorks’ activities and ethos with the global ‘Sport for Development’ movement.
The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges sport as an important enabler of sustainable development, recognizing its growing contribution to the realization of development and peace, the promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions sport makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities.
“Historically, sport has played an important role in all societies and acted as a strong communication platform that can be used to promote a culture of peace. It is, and will continue to be, one of the most cost-effective and versatile tools to promote United Nations values and achieve the SDGs”.
Wilfried Lemke
Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace
SportWorks will work towards creating change through the following:
- Improving access to sport: we will gather and leverage a network of partners both in the UK and abroad that will create new opportunities for underserved communities to benefit from sport;
- Creating a place to belong: through innovative partnerships, SportWorks will create safe, inclusive and equal sports communities;
- Ensuring opportunities to fully benefit from sport: we will endeavour to leverage the full power of sport, including physical and mental well-being but also new initiatives related to employability and skills development;
- Strengthening local and global connection: our work will allow diverse groups of people and communities to connect, share best practices and collectively solve problems.
We are excited about the potential for our work to directly contribute towards the following Sustainable Development Goals:
- SDG 3 Good health and well-being (Target 3.4)
- SDG 4 Quality education (Targets 4.4 and 4.5)
- SDG 5 Gender equality (Targets 5.1, 5.2 and 5.5)
- SDG 8 Decent work and growth (Targets 8.3 and 8.6)
- SDG 10 Reduced inequality within and among countries (Target 10.3)
- SDG 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change (Target 13.2)
- SDG 16 Peace, justice and sustainable institutions (Targets 16.2 and 16.7)
- SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals (Targets 17.3, 17.14 and 17.16)
Background: The UN Sustainable Development Goals
Adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, came into force on the 1st of January 2016. These global objectives, building on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), “are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”.
The 17 SDGs represent an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand- in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests1.
Classified into 17 categories, the objective of the United Nations and its members is to develop actions to enhance the major issues that our world is facing by 2030. This ambitious agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development includes 169 targets that are included in these 17 goals.
For further information on the UN’s work please visit the UN Chronicle