Global Sport Fund maps out rapid expansion

June 10, 2008
By Afzal Mehmood Shaikh

  
Doha - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Qatar Olympic Committee tells the media how it is promoting the use of sport to prevent juvenile delinquency and substance abuse among youth.

                                                                                         

 In a press briefing Tuesday at QOC headquarters, the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) said it aims to build team work and to map out a rapid expansion of activities for the project over the next eight years.

 Established in 2005 at QOC, the Global Sport Fund (GSF) is a ten year project with a mission of promote sport as a medium for improving the physical and mental health of adolescents between the age group of eleven and seventeen years by reinforcing positive social skills that can help to shield them from drug use.

 QOC became the first sports entity in the world to join hands with UNODC in establishing the GSF.

 Based in Doha, the GSF now reaches out to young people and organisations worldwide.

 In the words of the Heir Apparent, His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, President of the QOC, the GSF is "an opportunity to team up and help young people around the world to learn the benefits of a healthy lifestyle".

 The GSF stresses the importance of human values such as honesty, emotional control, cross-cultural understanding and, most important, fair and ethical play.

  HE Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Secretary General of QOC, on Tuesday said Qatar is committed to guiding the youth in the Middle East and the rest of the world through activities conducted by GSF.

 "An estimated 1.5 billion young people in the world need guidance that when given at an early age can help them become leaders in the future. This can be achieved with a program that explicitly helps young people. In Qatar, we are totally behind such a move," the QOC Secretary General said.

"In fact, the QOC is the only national Olympic committee in the world to join UNODC for such a venture. We started the Schools Olympic Day, a feat lauded by the IOC. And we feel equally satisfied by backing a programme which is exclusively devised to supporting the youth of the world," Sheikh Saoud pointed out.

 In 2003, UNODC and QOC collaborated to stage a camp called 'Football Without Borders', in order to promote better regional understanding, security and dialogue through young people from Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.

 "Through that event, the young participants learned tolerance, respect for themselves and how to handle defeat. And this is our target - help young people value life,' His Excellency added.

 Carl Marsh, Project Coordinator of the GSF, who is from Jamaica, sees Doha as the pilot for the "Friends of the GSF".

 "Doha is an ideal location to become the GSF World Headquarters from where young people can get help through qualified NGOs, coaches and mentors, who will use sport for fun and to practice the art of fair play and nurture values, such as, leadership, loyalty, perseverance in their communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central Europe," explained Marsh, who comes from the military background.

 "If young people are given proper attention, they cannot lose their way. I laud the contribution made by QOC in this regard. We are thrilled to be part of a partnership of this nature. GSF is going to approach other national Olympic committees and try to get them on board," he emphasized.

 "This is a long partnership. For starters, it is a 10-year commitment, but I feel it is a lifetime project. Young people around the world will benefit from this programme," Marsh added.

 "Sport does not revolve solely around competing and winning; it is about participation, physical well-being and self-confidence, respect and tolerance. It is these aspects and the ability to reach otherwise remote populations that give sport the power to positively influence young people of all nationalities.

  "The GSF recognises the power of sport to teach a healthy lifestyle to young people and provide an alternative for those who want to make positive changes in their lives," Marsh elucidated.

 The GSF provides grants to NGOs for projects that use sport to prevent drug use and criminal behavior among young people. The UN body keenly focuses on staging sponsored events, youth camps and exhibitions around the world.