Sport is a powerful tool to facilitate social integration and tolerance while promoting inclusion, citizenship and respect. Sport for development programs are playing increasingly significant roles in many global humanitarian and charitable organizations because of sport’s ability to highlight commonalities and bridge cultural and ethnic divides.
The Sport and Human Development Institute in Falk College explores the intersection of sport with human development, social change, and social inclusion. Created in partnership with the U.S Fund for UNICEF, the Institute aims to provide professional education and learning opportunities for students while supporting interdisciplinary, sport-focused research to advance understanding and application of sport in this developing discipline. The Institute’s initial student experiential learning and faculty research opportunities are made possible with generous support from Falk College donor and Syracuse University alumnus, Keith Rubenstein ’86.
“The Institute aims to collect and disseminate important research findings and to share best practices among leaders, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners who influence sport-for-development initiatives,” says Teresa MacDonald, director of the Institute and a faculty member in Falk College’s Departments of Child and Family Studies and Sport Management. “It also provides exposure, experience, and networking for our students interested in professions and non-profit entities that incorporate sport as a tool for engagement.”
This spring, Falk College students worked closely with MacDonald to create and implement the first university model for UNICEF’s Kid Power Program to allow kids to get active and save lives in collaboration with fourth and fifth grade students and their teachers at Lemoyne and McKinley-Brighton elementary schools in Syracuse. UNICEF Kid Power (unicefkidpower.org) gives kids the power to save lives. By getting active with the UNICEF Kid Power Band, kids go on missions to learn about new cultures and earn points. Points unlock funding from partners, parents and fans, and funds are used by UNICEF to deliver lifesaving packets of therapeutic food to severely malnourished children around the world. The more kids move, the more points they earn and the more lives they save. Details are forthcoming for the Institute’s Inaugural Sport Development Symposium that will report on current initiatives in the field.