French participants of the Sport for Sustainable Development training course discuss sustainability strategies & implementation

In line with the training course on sustainable development and sport as one of the activities of the “Sport for  Sustainable Development” project funded by the Erasmus+ programme, the French team gathered 20  participants for an online meeting, held on 14 November 2022. 

 

 

The aim of the online meeting was to share experience from the training course in Japan, raise awareness on the Sustainable Development Goals and explain how sustainability can be implemented within sport and mega sport events.

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After having completed the ten-day training course in Tokyo, organised by the Kokushikan University, the French participants wanted to create a legacy of what they have learned and experienced during their time in Japan.

 

Therefore, they organized an online meeting and invited the sustainable development managers of the French sport federations / associations, the youth council of the French National Olympic Committee, the French volunteers from National Olympics from all over the world, and representatives of ANESTAPS (student organisation which unites all sport students on a national level).  

 

The idea of the meeting was to report on the sustainability of major sporting events at international, national and  local level and to provide practical examples. 

 

The presentation started with a short introduction on ENGSO Youth, their work, their implication in  the Sport for Sustainable Development project as well as an overview of the Tokyo training course.  

 

The meeting was followed by an online game with an aim to test the participants’ knowledge on sustainable development in general. Afterwards the presentations continued with an explanation of the three pillars of sustainable development (environmental, social and economic  perspective) and the 17 Sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations. 

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The “story of sustainability” continued with the discussion about the work of the International Olympic Committee. The ecological balance of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, for example, was poor, but the focus was more on the  touristic heritage. The London 2012 Olympic Games had developed a model of sustainability and innovation, but the sporting legacy was not sufficient. So, the International Olympic Committee has put in place the Agenda 2030, a strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic movement, which  puts forward sustainable development, the social pillar and the unique and universal framework of the  Games. 

 

In order to make the connection to the next Olympic Games in Paris and the national level, one  participant presented the sustainability strategy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, on the one hand to provide the organisation of the Games and on the other hand to promote the environmental and social heritage of the Games

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Finally, one of the participants presented his project at the local level and the idea of giving local  projects more visibility through the attribution of different labels and thus educating, informing, raising  awareness and sharing at the same time.

  

This was a bridge from the international to the national and the local level, different possibilities of  sustainability and their connection to major sporting events.  

 

The participants also had the chance to share and apply the knowledge they had gained in Tokyo. There was also positive feedback from the participants of the meeting as well as many questions and  exchanges on almost all the topics addressed.

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