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If there was ever a time in our history to consider how to not leave anyone behind, 2020 was that year. As people and organizations seek to reconcile the impact of COVID-19, we need to think about how we build back in ways that intentionally bring people together and collectively work towards a better future. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can provide a framework to achieve this goal.

What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, is a global call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. At the Agenda’s core are 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets designed as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” The SDGs are a universal call for social responsibility – by the 193 countries who have signed on, and across every sector and to each person. We each have a role to play to meet the SDGs and contribute to a better way forward – a way that leaves no one behind.

Why does this matter to sport?

Sport is well documented in contributing to social development through developing life-skills, social skills and connections, and mental and physical health and wellbeing (Bailey et al. 2009; Holt et al. 2008; Neely & Holt 2014). Many sport organizations are investing in values-based sport, safe sport, and diversity and inclusion. The SDGs are an opportunity to align these priorities with the SDGs’ broader framework focused on inclusion and our social responsibility to contribute to the greater good and work toward a better future.

Of the 17 SDGs, eight are directly relevant to sport: 

3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

8 – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

10 – Reduce inequality within and among countries

11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

16 – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17 – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

The Kazan Action Plan provides a framework for aligning action within sport, physical activity, and physical education to contribute to the SDGs. For Canadian sport organizations, the Kazan Action Plan supports global connections and alignment on areas of common interest such as advocacy for sport, integrity of sport, gender equity, information sharing, and collective measurements – all key issues for the Canadian sport system.

Outdoor sport facility

According to Vicki Walker, Director General of Sport Canada, “The Sustainable Development Goals provide us with an internationally recognized and accepted framework through which we can identify and communicate the added value and broader impacts of [the Canadian government’s] investments in sport. The SDGs, and the global movement to use them to measure the impacts of sport, can help governments and sport organizations better understand the impacts of their current work, as well as guiding future investments and initiatives.”

The SDGs are increasingly used as a lens through which funders (governments, foundations, and others) are assessing the impact of their investments, requiring sport organizations to integrate the SDGs into their project designs and evaluation strategies.

Engagement with the SDGs

Sport organizations can engage with the SDGs by:

  1. Considering how the SDGs connect to current and future priorities, using them to inform activities to contribute to greater inclusion and other social outcomes.
  2. Articulating specific goals, targets and measurement strategies relating to the SDGs to create awareness and accountability for advancing the goals within your organization, community, and sport ecosystem.
  3. Communicating about work relating to the SDGs so key stakeholders, including members and funders, know you are investing in social development and a purpose beyond simply delivering a sport program.
  4. Working with others to move forward together – SDG 17 is about global partnerships supporting the goals, and is a call to action for us to collaborate to maximize the outcomes and impact.

Canadian sport organizations using the SDGs

Several Canadian sport organizations are already using the SDGs, including Commonwealth Sport Canada and MLSE LaunchPad.

Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) is a powerful example of a Canadian sport organization contributing internationally to the SDGs. Through the use of Sport For Development and Sport Development programming to promote community and social development and build national sport system capacity throughout the Commonwealth, CSC contributes to 10 SDGs (1- 5, 8, 10, 11, 16 and 17) with a focus on SDG 3,4,5 and 16. CSC has created or enhanced 129 Sport Development and Sport for Development (S4D) projects, including 17 S4D projects exclusively for women and girls. Of those 17 projects, nine are operational today in countries designated as official development assistance countries, where aid promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

Within Canada, MLSE Launchpad created the Sport For Development Metrics Framework to unify the measurement and evaluation efforts of a range of organizations that fund and deliver youth Sport For Development programming across Canada and beyond. The use of consistent metrics enables powerful shared learnings to improve youth outcomes and charitable returns on investment. The Framework focuses on four pillars – Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Ready for School, and Ready for Work; and aligns with SDGs 3, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 16. The Framework is based on MLSE LaunchPad’s evidence-based Theory of Change, which describes how Sport For Development programming contributes to a range of Positive Youth Development Outcomes for youth facing barriers.

Getting Started  

As organizations look to recover from COVID-19 and evolve in response to the social reckoning resulting from the anti-racism movement, we have an opportunity to consider how to create a better world, a stronger sport system, and a path towards equity and justice as we move forward. The SDGs are an opportunity to connect to a global initiative AND consider how social inclusion, poverty, the environment, education and other key areas are connected and influence the lives of current and future sport participants. The SDGs are a rallying point that sport can embrace, align around, and use to truly make a global impact. Imagine if we took our collective energies and our passion for competition and channeled those into racing towards 2030 and meeting the SDGs!

Children of families with low socio-economic status face often barriers to developing the motor skills needed to enjoy and engage in physical activity and sport throughout life (e.g., limited access to sport equipment at home, reduced parental support, and fewer financial resources). To address motor skill inequalities, targeted interventions should consider developmentally appropriate activities to build agility, coordination, and balance.

Gamification is the use of game techniques, such as the allocation of points and rewards, to provide incentive and fuel the competitive spirit in aspects of life outside of sport. Learn how MLSE LaunchPad has used gamification to support the development of prosocial life skills in the SIRCuit.

“Youth are notoriously difficult to engage in pre- and post-program evaluation. Collecting survey responses can be like catching fish with your hands.” In the SIRCuit, MLSE LaunchPad’s Marika Warner and Bryan Heal share the organization’s innovative approach to engaging youth in program evaluation.

Physical literacy – the motivation, confidence, competence, and knowledge to be physically active for life – is considered by some to be the essential ingredient to lifelong physical activity. But how is it developed? Analysis of participant outcomes from a two-week day camp design to increase physical literacy showed promising results from a mix of fundamental movement skill activities, sport-specific activities, and games of low organization.

At MLSE LaunchPad, evaluation activities have gone courtside! Coaches and program leaders distribute tablets for survey completion and conduct mini interviews on the sidelines or in the bleachers, ensuring youth feel they’re still part of the action and not missing out on program time.

Gamification is the use of game techniques, such as the allocation of points and rewards, to provide incentive and fuel the competitive spirit in aspects of life outside of sport (Bunchball, 2020). Examples are abundant, and include Points Days at Shoppers Drug Mart, using an Aeroplan credit card to earn travel miles, or opening a SCENE debit account to earn free movies. Fundamentally, gamification is about stimulating engagement and offering incentive for decisions. This can be used to drive areas of existing interest, as with the everyday runner or walker starting to use a FitBit and then going that extra kilometre to earn their Kilimanjaro badge; or the mix of product, service and technology can also add a little more fun and excitement to behaviours that are often ignored or not given much thought, such as completion of program evaluation surveys among children and youth participating in Sport For Development programs.  

Challenges in a youth Sport for Development setting

In 2017, MLSE LaunchPad set out to gamify how youth engage in a community sport setting. This was not about the actual sports being coached at the facility – it was about how youth interact with and experience a community-based sport organization. Our approach to gamification considered registration, relationships, attendance, program evaluation and whether incentives earned through a gamified experience could influence motivation – one key component that contributes to physical literacy and other outcomes of interest to sport programmers (Chen, 2015).

In applying this approach in practice, MLSE LaunchPad initially piloted a values-based currency of points and digital rewards to intentionally stimulate engagement related to priority challenges at the facility. Implementation of two tactical approaches formed the foundation of an early strategy:

  1. Providing youth with the ability to earn points for attendance, with bonus rewards for attendance streaks or perfect attendance, as a means to increase consistency in attendance and reduce ghosting (youth not showing up to a program for which they had registered).
  2. Providing youth with the ability to earn points and bonus rewards for the completion of a program evaluation activity before or after their program, to address challenges with low survey completion rates.

An innovative platform for youth engagement

Recognizing the potential of an effective gamification strategy to drive essential youth behaviours, MLSE Scoreboard™ was born – a digital platform for youth engagement, program evaluation, and program and facility management.  Part digital infrastructure, part loyalty rewards, and all engaging – anytime, from any device.

The system has two core components, which have advanced the implementation of the tactics described above:

Points as a key to success

During three years of testing, implementation and refinement with hundreds of programs and thousands of youth, one of the most critical insights has been that from the participant perspective, points are a currency. One key to success has been the intentional alignment of how points are earned with our values. For example, MLSE LaunchPad values the development of prosocial life skills and promotes the benefits of showing up, trying new things, and engaging positively with peers and staff. Consistent with these values, the life cycle of a typical program gives participants opportunities to earn points for living these values, including points for consistent attendance, multi-sport engagement, participating in evaluation activities, and engaging positively in program activities. Points are not earned for talent or sport performance. Youth reach the top of the leaderboard by actively embracing the diversity of sport programs on offer, showing up consistently, pushing themselves, and listening to their coaches and mentors. In essence, the points system is a currency of engagement. Over time, with the point system integrated into the fabric of the organization and its programs, the system can be adapted and refined by staff to address other priorities.

Refining the process

With the launch of MLSE Scoreboard and its points-based currency, youth response rates to program evaluation surveys jumped to 85%. However, some process issues persisted. Early in the MLSE Scoreboard journey, an evaluation station or “rotation” was integrated into a program’s first and last day where youth would go to a classroom or tablet station to complete the program evaluation survey. With MLSE Scoreboard available as a digital, mobile-friendly platform, evaluation staff began releasing pre-program surveys a full week in advance, with bonus points available for early completion. The results were swift – approximately two thirds of youth logged in from home to complete their baseline survey before the start of the program. This increased efficiencies in data collection, but perhaps more importantly, provided two sources of time savings for staff. First, fewer participants leaving program activities to complete a survey helps optimize the time they have for coaching and sport program experience. Second, 2/3 of youth completing surveys from home helps reduce demands on staff time, enabling them to focus on youth who need extra support to complete their survey onsite. For all the prospective benefits of a gamification strategy, none of it is useful if busy staff do not see value in terms of their most prized commodity: time (Ontario Nonprofit Network, 2018).

Tips for applying these concepts in your setting

1. Know your values

There is no homogenous population and different groups behave differently. Being aware of the challenges your participants may be experiencing and the values your organization wants to promote will inform smart and practical goals in building your own points currency. MLSE LaunchPad developed our points system around accountability for showing up, trying new things, and the development of prosocial life skills. What behaviours does your organization value?

2. Start small

We recommend focusing on a small number of concrete objectives while your staff and participants get comfortable with the system. At MLSE LaunchPad, early iterations awarded points to build engagement around attendance and evaluation. While fun custom challenges and other nuances have been added, starting with a simple focus helped staff develop comfort with the points system while generating excitement among youth around clear, achievable goals.

3. Have fun with your challenges

Whatever your engagement goals, encourage staff creativity and learn from participants to build gamified challenges that are fun and fresh while also reinforcing program content and behavioural goals. Physical literacy and the development of functional movement skills have been an intentional programming focus for younger youth at MLSE LaunchPad. As youth advance in age, the development of life skills such as social competence becomes the programmatic focus. Staff are empowered to award points or create challenges for observed examples of youth demonstrating growth in these life skill areas. For example, an MLSE Scoreboard challenge was established where youth earned points for introducing themselves to new mental health counsellors and getting to know them as people, helping to facilitate a warm introduction and reducing barriers to accessing this new service for youth and families. 

4. Incentives need not be costly

Yes, MLSE LaunchPad has access to team-branded merchandise for youth to redeem. However, in our journey we have learned that the points themselves provide more drive for engagement than any item or prize on offer. Most participants choose not to redeem in favour of building up their point totals to achieve goals or compete with their peers. Access to a leaderboard with peers is an essential enabler of the healthy competition that an engaging and values-driven points system can facilitate. Online rewards such as digital “badges” can be earned and accumulated, for example, related to a specific life skill, an act of positivity, or leveling up their sport participation. This type of reward is similar to the way points are used in favourite video games – except in this case, winning the game involves demonstrating the characteristics and attributes we work to promote through long-term quality sport engagement.

For those more extrinsically motivated, points redemption can take on many forms. We find smaller accessories such as wristbands and bracelets popular among 6-10 year-olds, and sport accessories such as water bottles and t-shirts popular among 11-14-year-olds. Experiential rewards are popular among older youth, such as a movie night donated by a sponsor, admission to a special event, or an earned privilege like choosing what the team eats at an end-of-season dinner. 

5. Learn and adapt

This article provides a framework for how the gamification of youth sport engagement has worked in a youth Sport For Development setting. Every program, culture and population are different, and what works in one environment may not be perfectly adaptable to another. Conceptually, it is helpful to think about a system of gamification through points as a choose-your-own-adventure platform, where organizations have the flexibility to tailor and evolve their system over time against the most pressing engagement goals or challenges as defined by them. People are not static, and as they grow and what motivates them evolves, those of us working with them must keep our approaches fresh, relevant and engaging.  

If you need a sounding board or would like to ideate about what a values-based points currency could look like for your organization, don’t hesitate to reach out to the MLSE LaunchPad Research and Evaluation team. 

Recommended Resources

Warner, M & Heal, B. (2020). Engaging youth in evaluation processes. SIRCuit Article.

Warner, M & Heal, B. (2020). The gamification of evaluation for non profits and charities. Imagine Canada 360 Blog.

Have you heard the term Sport for Development and wondered what it means?

Sport for development (also referred to as S4D and used interchangeably with sport for social change or sport for social objectives) involves tapping into what sport can do “intentionally” to address a range of community priorities, including community building, reduced youth criminal behavior, health promotion, Indigenous youth engagement, economic revitalization, newcomer settlement, inclusion and the improvement of quality of life for past and current members of Canada’s military. While most sport for development happens at a local level (domestically and internationally) around specific needs or opportunities, there is growing attention by academics, policy makers, philanthropists and social investors in how sport for development increasingly resembles a trans-local movement across Canadian communities (SMG).

For many years sport has helped, in many cases unintentionally, to address social issues in Canada. More recently, forward thinking sport organizers have started to develop and carry out programs that intentionally use sport to address a number of social objectives such as those mentioned above.

Such organizations include more well-known groups such as Right to Play, Jumpstart, CAAWS, Motivate Canada, MLSE Foundation and the Jays Care Foundation, but also highly respected, even if less well-known groups such as Night Hoops, FitSpirit (FillActive), Pour 3 Points (For 3 Points), and the Toronto Inner City Rugby Foundation.

Take, for example, the Night Hoops program started in inner city Vancouver in 1996 to offer late night basketball programs for at-risk youth. Since its inception, more than 4,200 youth ages 13-18 and some 240 coaches have been part of the program. Today, in addition to engaging 400 participants on 24 teams in three leagues, Night Hoops offers leadership, mentoring and training opportunities for coaches and officials. The program works with community partners including various city recreation departments, provincial ministries and the Vancouver Police Department.

As sport enthusiasts we understand the connection between the values, ethics and personal development that are part of learning and playing sports and the advantages these bring to society.

As successful as many of these local programs have been, there is a need for policy makers to develop and support coordinated, practical policies and programs that encourage the creativity and initiative necessary to continue and establish new programs that meet these all-important community goals.

Some might be aware of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Priorities for Collaborative Action 2017-2022 that have been developed over the past year. One of the priorities is that “F-P/T governments work with sector leaders to develop common principles, definitions and impact measurement tools for Sport for Development activity carried out in Canada, and to consider ways to promote Sport for Development activity throughout Canada.” This is a step in the right direction, one that needs to remain a priority if we hope to see more such valuable programs in Canada.

Free Webinar!
To learn more about Sport for Development register for the webinar with Bob Elliott, being hosted by the Ottawa Sport Council on April 18, 2018.

Sport for development refers to any initiative that uses sport to help improve or strengthen its community or helps assist people in need. However, when people talk about sport for development they are often referring to organizations like Right to Play and UNICEF who work in developing countries all over the world. What is often overlooked is the work being done locally in the sport for development movement.

The J. W. McConnell Foundation is a strong believer in the Sport for development movement in Canada; they currently support multiple organizations with the vision of promoting healthy lifestyles and helping vulnerable individuals and communities. Sport Matters Group (SMG), which is one of the McConnell Foundation grant recipients, is hosting three regional Sport for Development gatherings (Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver) leading up to their National gathering (Ottawa). These gatherings look to bring together leaders and innovators in the field of sport for development in order to share ideas and find ways to advance the movement.

Examples of sport for development:

SMG’s Sport4Change website helps to highlight some of the amazing work being done across this country by different organizations and individuals. These stories include:

While programs like Right to Play do amazing work, reaching one million children across the world, it is important not to overlook the benefits sport can provide locally to improve our communities in Canada.

Here are just a few of the ways sport can have a positive impact on a community:

It is because of these benefits that it is important to continue to support and advance the sport for development movement both internationally and locally.

References from the SIRC Collection:

1. Beacom, A. (2014). Sport for development and peace: a critical sociology. Sport in Society, 17(2), 274-278.

2. Carreres- Ponsoda, F. et al. (2012). The relationship between out-of-school sport participation and positive youth development. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 7(3), 671-683.

3. Darnell, S. C. (2010). Power, Politics and “Sport for Development and Peace”: Investigating the Utility of Sport for International Development. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27(1), 54-75.

4. Holt, N. L. et al. (2012). Physical education and sport programs at an inner city school: exploring possibilities for positive youth development. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy , 17(1), 97-113.

5. Maximizing the Benefits of Youth Sport. (2013). JOPERD: The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. 84(7), 8-13

6. Pink, M., & Cameron, M. (2014). Motivations, Barriers, and the Need to Engage with Community Leaders: Challenges of Establishing a Sport for Development Project in Baucau, East Timor. International Journal of Sport & Society, 4(1), 15-29.

7. Wilski, M. et al. (2012). Personal development of participants in Special Olympics unified sports teams. Human Movement, 13(3), 271-279.