International co-operation in sport

There is a long-established consensus that sport not only benefits individuals but society as a whole as well. For the United Nations, sport is even an important factor in achieving the sustainability goals formulated in its Agenda 2030, in that it is “a means to promote education, health, development and peace”. We present three German projects run under the auspices of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) that focus on the social potential of sport. 

Handball in Jordan  

In 2021, the DOSB launched a collaborative venture with Jordanian associations to support handball in the country by developing a nationwide infrastructure – for example by providing training and professional development for coaches. One of the project’s focus areas is working with children and young people. It also supports the integration of young refugees in the Jordanian border regions. The project is being run under the Federal Foreign Office’s scheme International Sport Promotion (ISF), which has supported more than 1,500 long-term and short-term programmes in more than 130 countries since the early 1960s.  

Fencing in Greece 

Under the motto “Together in Sport”, an initiative in Greece aims to help improve understanding between young refugees and the local population. Local clubs are provided with support in various sports, including fencing. According to the DOSB, more than 9,000 children had joined the scheme by the start of 2024. Receiving funding from such sources as the EU and the German Federal Office for Migration, the project started in 2020 and was extended for a further three years in 2023. One focus will now also be on integrating children and young people with mental and/or physical disabilities. 

Basketball in Namibia 

The school dropout rate in Namibia is high. A sports project has been launched in Katutura, a township in the capital Windhoek, that seeks to help young people complete their education and vocational training. The Basketball Artist School (BAS) offers extracurricular educational programmes, homework supervision, tutoring, lunch – and high-quality basketball training. The BAS was founded in 2010 as part of a DOSB project that was funded by the Federal Foreign Office. It now runs independently and is managed entirely on a local basis.