Grassroots Sport Diplomacy, defining a new concept

The 9 project partners, representing 7 countries and 2 continents, came together for 3 days in Barcelona (ESP) to join project leaders from ISCA, so as to attend the Grassroots Sport Diplomacy’s (GSD) first project meeting. GSD seeks to define itself as a new concept, which can primarily be understood as employing sport and physical activity as a means to create dialogue and cooperation on a grassroots level.

Elaborating a new concept is exciting, intellectually stimulating, but also challenging. The consortium aims to find the fine line between a broad and simple definition that will enable the concept to be easily replicated, and yet narrowing it down enough for it to be recognised and respected. There is no doubt that the diverse domains of expertise and cultural perspectives present within the group are both of a great advantage to the task at hand. An essential part of the definition phase was undertaken by creating a global mapping of current initiatives that fall under the GSD definition, and provided valuable insight during the definition phase.

The concept will be put to the test this summer, as the second phase of the project will unfold. Of a more qualitative nature, this phase consists in conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with targeted individuals and organisations that are implementing initiatives (or have done in the past) that fall under the GSD definition.  The analysis and main findings are expected to be delivered September 2018.

Stay tuned for the website’s launch, which will contain the project’s first research document (the mapping), and will provide further information and details around the GSD concept itself!