Final Report documents for Civil Society Project – CSP 2008
Name of the beneficiary: Miejski Klub Sportowy w Gogolinie
Decision number: 2008 – 1761 / 001 – 001
Project number: CSP 2008 / 105
Duration of project:
- N° of months: 8
- Start date: 28.11.2008
- End date: 24.06.2009
Theme(s) addressed: Social integration through sport.
Executive summary
The first aim of the project was to highlight the social value of sport through intercultural exchanges. The project is intended to show the role that sport can play as an instrument of integration, particularly, but not exclusively, for young persons with social disabilities. Sport signifies coming together, across differences. The aims of the project include demonstrating how important it is to make room for everyone, something that will be done through the discussions at the three meetings in Szekesfehervar, Gogolin and Helsingborg.
Final report of the project
The project promoted the exchange of good practice in various countries, cities and sport organizations. These good practices will focus on the value and role of sports in education, the inclusion of various social groups and increase the opportunities available to youngsters from socially deprived groups.
A international group has been created to find creative ways of coping with different types of discrimination: social exclusion on the basis of origin, gender or poverty. Finally, the project involves creating a network of young sports teachers and managers who will test innovative educational ideas, support and exchange of different training rules and methods.
This project incorporated sports and outdoor activities as a means for social integration and non-formal education for young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. It aims at increasing the attractiveness of sports activities as an efficient means of promoting informal education among the young people and their families, thus promoting mutual understanding and contributing to the voluntary participation in organizing sports events.
Available data indicate that the involvement of schoolchildren and other social groups in physical activity and sports is very low in Poland and Hungary in comparison with other countries, for example Sweden. As Education through Sport presumes sport activities and sports education, the main goal of the project was to identify the reasons of the current unsatisfactory situation, to find out and generalise successful experiences in all three partners.
The young people all live in multicultural local areas (Helsingborg), with high unemployment rates (Gogolin, Szekesfehervar), and they find it difficult to meet the demands of formal education structures. However, the youth have a strong interest in sports and in participating in sports clubs. Clubs therefore make a significant contribution to the social integration of young people. Through non-formal education activities, study groups and theory courses, the values of leadership and contact with adults will be taught. The project have supplement the work already carried out by relevant clubs and will strengthen tolerance and fair play young people’s personal development. The European dimension was encouraged via contacts with similar local areas in other European cities. Contacts were facilitated by the Internet at first, also by organizing three events in all three cities.