Missions

France

Area of intervention

Sport Without Borders intervenes in urban or rural school- and after-school settings with young persons from 10 to 25 years old. With the help of a travelling teaching bus, we offer for youth a practical but fun resource that is complementary to and/or supportive of NGO or school projects already underway.


Aim

To contribute to the citizenship education of the young as a means of developing solidarity – which is at the heart of all of our teachings – and to prevent at-risk behaviours.

Local context

The teaching bus intervenes in underprivileged urban zones where youths are faced with significant issues stemming from a lack of social and educational resources, and where the need for a practical approach to the acceptance of difference and to openness to the world are important.

 

In underprivileged urban zones, youths are faced with significant issues stemming from a lack of social and educational resources. This reality has pushed pedagogical teams to integrate social life skills into school, community, and NGO projects.In the isolation of rural settings, youth often have little experience of differences, be they ethnic, social, or religious.

This reduces their possible openness to the world. In these two contexts, SWB offers an informal teaching tool that allows for the development of reflection, expression, and game-like activities. When activities are fun, participants remain relaxed and, consequently, more receptive to the ideas being addressed.

Key figures

Capital : Paris

Surface area : 551 500 km2

Population : 64 057 792 hab

Literacy Rate : 99%

GDP per capita : 32 600$ per capita

Human Development Index : 0,960,  11th out of 177 countries

 

Source: PNUD, Human Development Report 2006
The World Fact Book, 2007, CIA

 

Programmes implemented

In contexts marked by phenomena of de-socialization, a loss of references and/or a loss of self confidence, the bus intervenes to re-empowering youths in their role as actors, so that they adopt more sympathetic/empathetic behaviours :
- towards others : acceptance of differences, struggles against racism, exclusion, sexism…
- towards their own bodies : seeking a balanced diet, avoiding at-risk behaviours, addiction…
- towards rules : respecting arbitration, application of societal rules…

Sensitization to global citizenship and the establishment of a global citizenship project

This programme of sensitization comes in three ways : it depends on the targeted public.

 

Within schools :
The teaching bus offers informal educational support to projects developed by teachers.  It brings to the forefront certain transdisciplinary aspects of PSA’s, all the while rooting itself in SSF projects throughout the world.  Three workshops – video debates; quizzes and the exploration of a sport developed elsewhere – allow youths to create parallels between the daily realities (social, cultural, educational, and athletic) of young people living here and elsewhere.

In a context of recreational sports :
SSF’s teaching bus reinforces a global citizenship approach to athletic activities by focussing on the fundamental notions of self-respect, respect for one’s body, respect for one’s adversary, and the rule of law.  Here again, the programme serves to support actions already underway in clubs with coaches, players, and fans.

Global Citizenship :
Sensitization to global citizenship is often followed (in year two) by the establishment of a globally-directed activity, such as a global citizenship tournament or ‘on the ground tour’.  This ‘tour’ consists of an exchange between classes, with each class given the opportunity to share what they have learned about global citizenship, and to become an ambassador for a global SSF programme for the duration of one school year.

Social and Educational Sports Activity Training

Through the creation of a “sports and global citizenship” training guide, SSF offers workshops in the training of recreational sports educators in the BAFA, BPJEPS, or BE programmes.

These sessions outline the social and cultural benefits of PSA’s in the building (or re-building) of a child in crisis.  Practically speaking, they fine-tune the actions of the future sports educator to the needs of children and youth in difficulty.

The long-term goal is the establishment of alternate approaches to educational sports activities beyond competition, which incorporate such local issues as multiculturalism.


 


 

Actions since the opening of the mission

 

2002-2003 : limited exposure of the traveling exhibit in Paris

 

  • Sensitization to global citizenship via a traveling exhibit, of which the main resource was a bus renovated into a debate hall.
  • Limited interventions with youth in the Paris region, or during more local or international sports events (Paris Saint Denis World Track & Field Championships 2003).

 

2004-2005 : launch of the traveling bus

  • Redirection of our actions,
  • Creation of projects in support of the most discriminated against and most forgotten community – the Romany population,

either in Serbian enclaves or in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps.

 

2006-2008 : Establishment of Sustainability for the France Mission

 

  • 2006 : Establishment of a national tour

Intervention predominantly in elementary and middle schools located in ‘Priority Education Zones’ (i.e. zones identified by the government as faced with specific challenges to success).

 

  • 2007-08 : Sustainable Action

Partnership with educational structures.

 

Decision to intervene over several years in the following establishments :

 

- 1st year to sensitize students to global citizenship and to the prevention of at-risk behaviours, with the help of teaching bus resources.

 

- 2nd year to help establish a global citizenship action project.