How International Inspiration, the legacy programme
of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is fulfilling
children’s rights to sport and play in Brazil
Even as Brazil prepares to host the FIFA
World Cup in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro celebrates winning the 2016 Olympic
Games, millions of Brazilian children are denied their right to take
part in sport and play.
Tamara, aged 9, recalls how at her school in the poor Novo Rio
district of the municipality of Igaci, north-eastern Semi Arid region of
Brazil, physical education lessons used to involve little or no
physical activity. Pupils often stayed inside the classroom playing word
games on the blackboard. The playground outside their window, a dry
patch of ground without shade and separated from surrounding fields by
barbed wire, remained empty.
Nor were there many opportunities for the children to take part in
organised sports outside school. In Igaci, as in many towns in the
Semi-Arid region of Brazil, poverty levels are high. Many municipalities
lack trained PE teachers and equipment; facilities have lapsed into
disrepair.
Right to play
However, children in Igaci and across the Semi Arid are now realising
their right to take part in sport and play thanks to International
Inspiration, the legacy programme of the 2012 London Olympic and
Paralympic Games. Implemented by UNICEF in partnership with UK Sport,
the British Council and others, International Inspiration aims to reach
20 million children in 20 countries by the time the London games open in
Summer 2012.
Not every child who enjoys football can become the next Ronaldinho or
Pelé. Yet play is an essential feature of childhood and a fundamental
right of all children. Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child states that: “Every child has the right to relax, play and
join in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.”
Sport and play promote the lessons and values - fair play,
co-operation, tolerance and leadership - which help children to reach
their full potential as adults. Sport itself is a powerful means of
motivating and engaging children, and an effective tool by which to
realise other rights.
"The children have
realised that you can enjoy sport for sport’s sake and not to become an
athlete."
Rosalind, PE teacher in Igaci
Sport for sport's sake
In the Semi Arid, International
Inspiration has enabled UNICEF to incorporate a new Sports and
Citizenship challenge into its existing Municipal Seal of Approval. A
highly successful UNICEF initiative which has been endorsed by Brazilian
President Lula da Silva himself, the Municipal Seal of Approval aims to
improve the lives of children in the disadvantaged Semi Arid region by
challenging local communities to expand services and to increase the
participation of children and young people in municipal life.
Municipalities who are awarded the prestigious Seal take great pride in
their achievement.
In Igaci, the task of mobilising the community to meet the Sport and
Citizenship challenge was taken on by Charles Alberquerque, an
inspirational figure who has overcome difficulties including poverty,
dyslexia and physical disability to achieve his dream of becoming a PE
teacher. Through public meetings and sports festivals, he helped make
the wider community aware of the benefits sports and physical education
can bring.
“The results were amazing!” Charles says, “Not only [did] we win the
Sports and Citizenship challenge, but we also helped Igaci to be one of
the seven municipalities in [the state of] Alagoas to be awarded the
UNICEF Seal! This really means we are transforming children’s lives in
Igaci, and one way to do it is clearly through sports.”
Sport for sport’s sake
For many children, the festivals organised through International
Inspiration are their first opportunity to take part in physical
education activities. The festivals usually create demand for more
activities, which influences local authorities to plan and budget for
sport and PE.
After the success of the festivals in Igaci, the municipality asked
Charles to work with teachers and pupils to bring regular sports to
local pupils. Today, approximately 1,000 children in ten districts take
part in weekly, inclusive PE classes.
“The children have realised that you can enjoy sport for sport’s sake
and not to become an athlete,” says Rosalind, a PE teacher who has
received support and training from Charles. “This has encouraged them to
do more to increase the amount they do – for example making their own
equipment from what they can find or recycle.”
The PE lessons have proved popular. Gustavo, aged 7, is really happy
that they have PE in school now and his one wish would be for more new
games. Human volleyball, in which pupils act as the net, is one of his
favourites. “I know one school where they don’t have PE and only have
ten minutes to play outside at lunchtime – it’s really sad,” he adds.
Young leaders
Investing in people such as Charles and
Rosalind, who can then pass on their skills and enthusiasm to others, is
key to making high quality sports available to all. Through International
Inspiration, over 7,000 teachers, community coaches and public
managers in the Semi Arid have now been trained on how to strengthen the
planning and the provision of PE, sport and play, building capacity in
the region and ensuring the sustainability of the programme.
At an International Inspiration festival in the nearby town
of Palmeira dos Indios Charles is joined by a group of young leaders,
recruited and trained by the British Council, who co-ordinate games and
sports skills sessions in the town square. There are a total of 400
young leaders in Brazil who help to bring sport to other children, as
well as building their own skills and confidence.
“It was an opportunity for personal growth and development - for
instance, to learn to work in a group,” says Lays, aged 17, a confident
young woman who was chosen to attend the Youth Games in the UK in 2009,
“I was very shy before and didn’t like to practise sport – but this is
me today!”
The games they lead at sports festivals promote the development of
skills and cooperation over competition, enabling all children to join
in regardless of gender, age or ability and protecting every child’s
right to be treated fairly. The young leaders also take part in
activities within schools which use sport to boost attendance and
achievement, and through International Inspiration partners
they have formed strong links with UK schools.
Transforming lives
“I see sports with different eyes – everyone can play regardless of
talent,” says young leader Aleni, aged 17. “Sports can be used towards
different goals. I heard people say they didn’t want to play soccer
because it was for boys, or that they didn’t like school because their
teacher was no good. But they can get girls to play soccer and get
children to see that school can be fun.”
Through teachers like Rosalind, sports mobilisers like Charles, and
young leaders like Lays and Aleni, International Inspiration
has already reached over 400,000 children and young people in the Semi
Arid region of Brazil. Some 20,000 children in 21 municipalities are
now engaging in regular sporting activities.
Building on these achievements, International Inspiration is
considering extending the Sport and Citizenship challenge and the
Municipal Seal of Approval initiative to other areas of Brazil,
including the city of Rio de Janeiro, thereby creating a link between
the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympiads. This could mean that the
experience of several years of International Inspiration is
taken forward as another social legacy programme of the Games for the
millions of children living in Brazil and in the wider South American
region.
Perhaps some of the children already reached by International
Inspiration in Brazil will one day represent their country on their
home soil at the Olympic Games or World Cup. Yet whether they go on to
sporting glory or not, these children’s rights to sport and play are now
being fulfilled and their lives are already being transformed through
the power of sport.
Mary Whittaker is Web Editor at UNICEF UK