In September the Kicking AIDS Out Secretariat was contacted concerning a possible additions of two representatives from the Kicking AIDS Out Network to join a planned Scoping Mission to take place in Southern and Eastern Africa.

The Australian Government has agreed to expand Australia’s development assistance to Africa, including in Sport-for-Development. To accomplish this, AusAID scheduled a Scoping Mission from December 4 – 17 2010 to investigate options for expanding their Sport-for-Development assistance in southern and/or east Africa.  

The Scoping Mission Team comprised of an independent Team Leader/ design specialist Ms Cathy Deane, Mr George Nange Training and Development Officer, Kicking AIDS Out! Network Secretariat, Mr Mike Wachira Regional Coordinator Christian Sports Contact East Africa, Mr Tony Mc Gee, AusAID advisor on Sports-for-Development and Mr Jason Court from AusAID in Pretoria who participated in partly in the mission.

The team conducted a range of consultations with stakeholders who were jointly identified by the Australian and African team members both prior to and during the mission which include the Kicking AIDS Out! Network Secretariat and other Sport-for-Development and Development-through-Sports organizations in Swaziland, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The objective of these meetings was to enable a frank and open exchange of ideas on ways in which Australia could most effectively support Sport-for-Development initiatives in southern and/or east Africa. In some cases, due to time and geographical constraints, the team also made contact with a number of government organisations and experts with an interest in sport-for-development by telephone and email.

Consultations with all stakeholders confirm that there is a role for sport as a viable and practical tool to assist in youth development and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDG), particularly in the areas of economic empowerment, peace and conflict resolution, gender equality and empowerment.  Conflict was identified as a constraint to the achievement of all MDGs. What was interesting was the varying approaches to the implementation of development-through-sport initiatives depending on the primary objectives of donors/sponsors and implementing organisations. These approaches are sometimes referred to as using “Sport Plus” or “Plus Sport” models.

At the end of the mission an aide memoire was presented to the AusAID Pretoria and a report will be submitted to the Australian government which shall help guide the next step of the project in 2011.