"The world of Sport for All makes the first move", says Mogens Kirkeby, President of ISCA, as the Round Table on Intercultural Dialogue and Sport closes off on May 16, 2008. "We have not just made declarations to put in the piles of paper. We have made clear commitments to act. This is our lead role, and from there, we can invite other stakeholders to join us in the efforts to use sport for intercultural dialogue and integration", he finishes.

The conslusions from the Round table, including the commitments, can be downloaded below.

Participants from 11 countries, representing both governments and non-governmental organisations in Sport for All, took part in the intensive, two day Round Table.

The International Round-table was organised by Sports union of Slovenia (SUS) in coperation with the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA); Confederation of Europenne Sport Sante (CESS) and Ministry of Education and Sport of Slovenia on behalf of the Slovenian Presidency of the European Council.

Click here to see the invitation to the Round Table.

More about the Sport Union of Slovenia can be found here.

Download the Round Table Commitements (DOC, 0.49 MB)

Sport for All - an Intercultural Dialogue Comments by ISCA President: Mogens Kirkeby

“Across Europe a myriad of local projects within the field of intercultural dialogue through sport are being implemented by the ‘sport for all’ sector. These initiatives represents a valuable production of ‘Human Capital’ on which our societies are being built and developed.

I believe, it clearly shows that the ‘sport for all’ sector – its millions of volunteers and organisations – take responsibility for the development of society by involving themselves in the major challenges of today”. Says ISCA President Mogens Kirkeby

Click here to see the invitation to the seminar on ‘Sport for All as an element of Intercultural Dialogue’ in Ljubljana, Slovenia 15-16 May 2008.

Sharing Diversity A European study on Intercultural Dialogue

The European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research in Bonn, Germany has published the report ‘SHARING DIVERSITY: National Approaches to Intercultural Dialogue in Europe’.
The report analyses the national cultural policies and has special attention on four sectors and these sectors impact on intercultural dialogue such as culture, education, sport. The report gives an overview, it gives inspiration and 50 recommendations to European and national actors.

Dowload the report at: http://www.interculturaldialogue.eu/

Background Sport - an intercultural dialogue or a shortcut to misunderstanding?

Sport and its organisations can be very useful instruments to creating dialogue between cultures. But it takes more than sport to facilitate a useful and valuable inter-cultural dialogue.

It takes:

An objective beyond the sports activity

An educative perspective

A set-up where the educative perspective is realised into action

All over world the need of intercultural dialogue and integration is growing and climbing on political agendas.  Societies foresee bigger challenges both in the near future and on a longer term. The challenge has or will reach a level where more than state level regulations are a solution to the problem. Civil society and civil society organisations are needed in the process of counteracting the growing challenge.

At this website you can find information about and follow the international agendas on Intercultural Dialogue and Integration through Sport.

Please also feel free to contribute to the knowledge sharing by sending updates, questions or suggestions.

See also the national agendas where practical interventions and project from different countries are presented.

Sport and Multiculturalism (EU) (PDF, 1.48 MB)