Sport for Development Events and Social Capital Building: A Critical Analysis of Experiences from Sri Lanka

Schulenkorf, N

Sport for Development Events and Social Capital Building: A Critical Analysis of Experiences from Sri Lanka

Schulenkorf, N

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Publisher:: Vera Solutions
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Sport for Development, 2013, 1 (1), pp. 25 - 36
Issue Date:: 2013-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Schulenkorf, N https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7235-5340	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Sport for Development, 2013, 1 (1), pp. 25 - 36	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	2330-0574	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/27942
dc.description.abstract	Most of the `evidence' that sport and event projects contribute to positive social development in divided societies remains anecdotal. In answering the call for empirical evaluations, this paper investigated the role of a sport-for-development project in contributing to intergroup development and social capital building between disparate communities in ethnically divided Sri Lanka. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders after the weekend-long Intercultural Sports Meeting (ISM) project in rural Sri Lanka, assessing participant experiences, behaviour, and attitudinal changes. Findings suggest that socially focused short-term initiatives have the potential to be a source and a vehicle for intercommunity development; they can provide much needed excitement, animation and vibrancy. However, to contribute to sustainable social benefits sport events ought to be used to grow and leverage a nested sport-for-development program instead of being featured as a stand-alone exercise. In fact, the ability of short-term interventions to create social capital needs to be critically assessed and claims about events lasting contributions to social capital should be treated with caution.	en_US
dc.publisher	Vera Solutions	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Sport for Development	en_US
dc.title	Sport for Development Events and Social Capital Building: A Critical Analysis of Experiences from Sri Lanka	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.for	150404 Sport and Leisure Management	en_US
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services	en_US
utslib.for	1303 Specialist Studies in Education	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	1	en_US

Abstract:

Most of the `evidence' that sport and event projects contribute to positive social development in divided societies remains anecdotal. In answering the call for empirical evaluations, this paper investigated the role of a sport-for-development project in contributing to intergroup development and social capital building between disparate communities in ethnically divided Sri Lanka. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders after the weekend-long Intercultural Sports Meeting (ISM) project in rural Sri Lanka, assessing participant experiences, behaviour, and attitudinal changes. Findings suggest that socially focused short-term initiatives have the potential to be a source and a vehicle for intercommunity development; they can provide much needed excitement, animation and vibrancy. However, to contribute to sustainable social benefits sport events ought to be used to grow and leverage a nested sport-for-development program instead of being featured as a stand-alone exercise. In fact, the ability of short-term interventions to create social capital needs to be critically assessed and claims about events lasting contributions to social capital should be treated with caution.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/27942