What is sport policy and who is it for?

What is sport policy?

Sport policy sets clear goals and guidelines for how sport can contribute to society. Policies are influenced by a range of actors, including governments, intergovernmental agencies, as well as local communities and grassroots organisations. The policy is relevant to all stakeholders!

Policy commitments to elite sport

Sport has become more globally recognised in recent times within formal policy at global, regional, and national levels. This includes policy commitments to elite sport, sport for all, and sport and development, which seek to use sport to contribute to wider goals.

Sport policy serves the needs of all stakeholders

Sport policy should serve the needs of all stakeholders. No one should get left behind or feel excluded from participating in sport.

Every sport-connected organisation, regardless of size, has a role to play in moving sport for development forward, and policy is one way to achieve this.

Sport and development policy utilises sport as a tool for contributing to wider global goals, which can be useful to all.

Almost all organisations have policies

It is important to remember that almost all organisations have policies. They are not only for large or public sector organisations – a sports club may have a travel or safeguarding policy, for example.

Every person or group who contributes to the development of a policy is a ‘policymaker’. It is very likely you are already a policymaker and that you use policies in your work.

The following resources from sportanddev may be useful.

● Learn more about sport and development policy

● Toolkit for policy development, delivery and evaluation

Developing a policy – bigger picture thinking

A key skill needed for policy development in consideration of the bigger picture.

It is important to understand how sport can support organisational objectives and also consider bigger social, economic, environmental and/or political forces that may impact the implementation of your policy. For everybody involved, policy is about moving in the same direction, owning risks and delivering intended change.

Stakeholder engagement is vital in developing a policy. It enables alignment between the problem and scoped activities for change.