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Professor Ian Henry, Director, Centre for Olympic Studies and Research / Institute of Sport & Leisure Policy, Loughborough University
Professor Henry is also a member of the Institute of Sport and Leisure Policy, and Director of the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research. His principal research interests lie in comparative and transnational analysis of sports policy; the governance of the Olympic movement; and sport, interculturalism and international development. He has worked on a range of sport and development projects including the International Inspiration Evaluation Study with Tess Kay and projects for the European Commission with Mahfoud Amara on Sport and Multiculturalism, and Sport and the Social Inclusion of Refugees and Asylum Seekers. His most recent book is Comparative and Transnational Research in Sport: globalisation, governance and sport policy (Routledge 2007). Ian Henry is responsible for the research element of the MEMOS programme a masters in Management of Olympic Sporting Organisations. Recent participants in this programme have included members of the NOC of Iraq.
Presenatation from Professor Ian Henry
The aim of this part of the presentation will be to develop three elements of the argument:
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- Different concepts of social integration imply different policy goals and approaches
- Sporting projects can make a difference to people's lives, enhancing personal and social capital, and fostering social cohesion.
- Effective policy development requires an understanding (and testing) of assumptions of how certain beneficial outcomes can be achieved. Analytic models provide an effective way of achieving this.
The Nature of Policy Goals and Approaches Associated with Different Models of Integration / Assimilation
Can we specify what the goals of integration / assimilation policy in Kurdistan are? Are they for example,
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- To develop a sense of confidence and belonging among the Kurdish population?
- To develop a sense of confidence and belonging among the population (Kurd and non-Kurd) in the Autonomous region?
- To promote the well-being of young people through sport in a post-conflict situation, dealing with personal trauma, social dislocation?
Critical to a definition of the role of sport will be the identification of the approach to social integration and the anticipated contribution which sport might make.
Conceptualising the Nature of the Potential Benefits of Sport (and their Limits).
How can we identify the potential benefits of sport
(A) Personal Capital
Physical capital: developing skills, physical competences which the conflict situation denied the opportunity to develop
Psychological capital: e.g. developing self-confidence, and self esteem; dealing with trauma - re-establishing emotional stability; providing the opportunities for intrinsic enjoyment
Personal social capital: e.g. developing trust in others; widening social networks
(B) Social Capital
Bonding capital: Bonding social capital - Informal realm. the close ties that help people to get by - usually with family, friends and neighbours, or in the context of refugees and asylum seekers, with members of the same national group.
Bridging capital - Civic realm. involves the development of weaker ties with networks of different groups (e.g. other ethnic groups), building bridges between refugee and asylum seeker groups and other bodies in civil society.
Linking capital - Institutional realm building links to organisations and systems that can help people gain resources and bring about broader change e.g. links through sport to educational, housing, job opportunities etc.
The notion that sport is good for society is simplistic - rather certain types of sporting activity applied appropriately have the potential to achieve certain types of outcome.
The Use of Logic Models to base Policy on Evidence (or at Least on Explicit Assumptions) about How to Achieve Positive Change.
Analytic logic models provide a useful stimulus to spelling out what is to be achieved, how and why.
(Need to develop a local model for promoting cultural integration to replace that provided Below)
Developing and applying such models requires an understanding of (a) local context; (b) goals of sports policy in respect of the forms of social integration which are sought; (c) the nature of 'causal' links assumed between inputs, throughputs, outputs and outcomes; (d) the ability to review and adjust.
Further Information
Sport and Multicultural Dialogue: a review of policy in the 25 European Member States, Amara, M, Aquilina, D, and Henry, I with PMP Consultants - a study undertaken for the European Commission DG Education and Culture, 2004.
Sport, Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Amara, M, Aquilina, D, and Henry, I, Coalter, F, Taylor J a study undertaken for the European Commission DG Education and Culture, as part of the European Year of Education through Sport, 2004
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"Professor Henry is a member of the Institute of Sport and Leisure Policy, and Director of the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research."
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This page last updated on: 08 December 2008 at 17:30 GMT (20:30 Kurdistan-Iraq time (GMT +3)
