What impact do sport-and-play activities have on the lives of coaches and youth? Sport-based initiatives are a powerful means to achieve development objectives such as health, education and gender equality. We are excited about our Sport for Development partnership with Royal Dutch Hockey Association (KNHB), Hockey Dreams Foundation, International Sports Alliance, Right To Play and Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). Together we work towards a world in which children and youth actively contribute to vital communities through sports and play.
We partner up in the Sport for Development partnership (2020-2024), a government-funded program designed in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program uses sport as catalyst for positive social change and to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Next to the focus on social development, the partnership aims to support the trade and diplomacy agenda of the Dutch government.
Through the Sport for Development program, we have been able to strengthen our program in Khunti (Jharkhand) following Bovelander Foundation coaching courses and by implementing social programs for our Grassroots Hockey Program, have organised a coaching course in Kerala, and have launched our Grassroots Hockey Program in Pune (Maharashtra).
The contribution of the partnership so far towards the Sustainable Development Goals has been reviewed. The reach in numbers: to date more than 71,000 people have been positively impacted by the partnership activities, with more than 1.700 coaches receiving training via nearly 640 trainings and workshops. Read more about the impact, successes and lessons in the mid-term report on sportfordevelopment.org.
Within the SFD program, Bovelander Foundation and Hockey Dreams Foundation are implementing partners for the KNHB.