SPORT AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

The Sport for Hope Centre in Haiti provides young people and local communities with opportunities to practice sports and develop their bodies, minds and wills in the Olympic spirit. It aims to promote sport, education and social development in the surrounding communities and through the country.

Placing Sport for All at the heart of its approach, the Sport for Hope Centre is committed to promote the development of sport at all levels and create access to sports and physical activities for as many people as possible. The modern multi-functional sports centre provides elite athletes with state-of-the-art training facilities and young people and local communities with positive sport and development opportunities.

Beyond its sporting vocation, the Sport for Hope Centre’s proposes a wide scope of activities and services which are integrated in the Centre’s programmes and offers:

• Values-based education (i.e. values of Olympism, environmental and social responsibilities)
• Life skills development activities: prosocial values and behaviours to develop themselves into fulfilled individuals and citizens, interpersonal skills and orientation support
• Sociocultural education: artistic activities (i.e. dance, vocal techniques, theatre and music), arts & crafts (i.e. Baneco art, recuperation art, painting and crochet), languages and initiation to informatics
• Health education: general hygiene and awareness
• Health services: sports medicine and health care
• Community activities: activities and events are organized at the Centre while groups can also rent installations to host activities (i.e. weddings, conferences, music concerts and community development events)

The Centre, built at a cost of USD 18 million, was a joint initiative between the IOC, its key stakeholders and the Haitian Government. The Centre is now managed by the Sport for Hope Foundation which values its contribution to social change and human development.

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Grassroots

The Centre also offers an integrative sport-based sociocultural and educational programme for the most underprivileged, out-of-school local children, the Integration Programmes as well as the opportunity for surrounding communities to leverage social and cultural development through events and activities.

Academy

The Centre reaches local youth by proposing different programmes ranging from sport-based sociocultural and educational programmes to a specialized sports programme:

• School Programme
• Summer Camp
• Multisport Academy Programme

Elite

The Centre provides:

• Haitian elite athletes with modern and professional training conditions
• the country’s National Sports Federations and International Sports Federations with office space and facilities to develop the elite sport in the country