[Gwangju Universiade] ‘Empowering the youth through sports’

The United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) has a special mission during the Gwangju Universiade.

And that is to support the young, especially from developing and underdeveloped countries, to become next-generation leaders and create legacies through the Youth Leadership Program, said Wilfried Lemke, special advisor to the U.N. secretary-general on sport for development and peace.

Lemke has made it his personal mission to develop and sustain the program in close partnership with the Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC) since 2012.

He said that the program -- which started out with 30 people -- now has some 500 participants, hoping that they will, one day, not only contribute to peace and prosperity, but also become role models for children in their own communities in the near future.

The UNOSDP has also been carrying out the EPICS Project with the GUOC, aimed at inviting the youth from around the world to learn, share ideas and collaborate under five different themes -- environment, peace, IT, culture and sport.

The two projects have been developed as sport has the power to bring entire communities together and bridge cultural gaps, Lemke stressed.

The followings are excerpts from an interview with Wilfried Lemke, special advisor to the United Nations secretary-general on sport for development and peace:

Could you explain about your role as a special advisor?

Lemke: My work at the United Nations is based around three pillars. As an advocate for sport for development and peace, my mission is to promote among governments and other relevant actors an understanding of how the transformative power of sport can be applied to advance development and peace-building goals. As a facilitator, my role is to encourage cooperation and dialogue between numerous stakeholders of the sport for development field. Third part of my mandate is to represent the United Nations system at key sport events and meetings around the globe. I am honored to represent the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Gwangju Universiade and to extend on behalf of the United Nations an appreciation for the GUOC’s efforts to promote values of human rights and good sportsmanship among the youth of the world.

Could you elaborate on development?

Lemke: There are many areas where sport can act as a catalyst for development. As a fundamental right of all individuals, it provides a highly accessible platform for nation building, education and can contribute to economic growth.

On the diplomacy level, sport opens doors for peaceful dialogue between nations and helps ease political tensions. On the community level, it is widely used to raise awareness about drug abuse related risks and HIV/AIDS. For individuals, especially for vulnerable groups, sport offers possibilities to improve health, strengthen self-esteem and find their place in the society.

Some of my personal priorities have been focused around harnessing the potential of sport to empower young people, provide inclusion opportunities for people with disabilities, support conflict resolution and advance gender equality.

What is the relationship between the UNOSDP and the Universiade?

Lemke: In 2012, my office, the UNOSDP signed a cooperation agreement with the GUOC, which marked the first ever direct collaboration with a major sports event.

In this partnership, we have strived to create a legacy which, in line with the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, would reach communities in the Republic of Korea and beyond its borders and have a direct, tangible, positive effect on their lives.

The cooperation resulted in a number of projects and provided a solid platform for inter-Korean and international exchange. The city of Gwangju staged three editions of highly successful EPICS Forum and hosted three camps of the Youth Leadership Program, a UNOSDP initiative aimed at providing education opportunities for youth working in grassroots sports in developing countries. Together, these projects have formed a significant part of the Universiade’s legacy and outreach program.

With the 2018 Winter Olympic Games approaching, which will be hosted by Pyeongchang, we hope to take these development efforts even further to serve people of the Korean peninsula and the world.

What is your vision for the Youth Leadership Program?

Lemke: During my early missions as the special adviser, I had the opportunity to observe many sports for development and peace projects on the ground. I met countless youth working enthusiastically in grassroots sport and, through their projects, addressing some of the pressing social issues their communities faced.

In places like slums or townships, these young people become true role models for their communities and have a bigger influence on kids and peers than international sport stars. However, most of these youth have very basic education levels and limited resources in which to carry out their projects. Thus the idea behind the creation of the Youth Leadership Program was to empower these young people and establish a proper forum where they can learn the best practices in the field of sport for development from the best actors in the field and develop their leadership skills.

We organized the first camp in 2012, and since then the Program has traveled to eight countries, with 17 camps and over 500 alumni, and these numbers keep growing.

How do you want to further develop the program?

Lemke: We are always open for new hosts and facilitators, and it has been wonderful to see the geography of the Program expand with each year. In May 2015, we took it to South America for the first time, with a very successful camp in Medellin (Colombia), which was also the first Spanish-speaking edition of the program. We have also tried out a new format this year, during the camp in Bradenton (Florida, U.S.), where a group of new participants was joined by selected alumni who were invited back for some advanced level training. Although the two groups have different curricula, we also made sure they engaged in plenty of joint activities to allow for experience exchange.

My dream with the Youth Leadership Program is to, one day, reach 10,000 or even 20,000 beneficiaries who will form a powerful worldwide network of talented sport-for-development specialists and will work together to ensure a better future, free of wars and conflicts, for next generations to come.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)