4 August 2014

Call for papers: "Sport-for-Development and Peace Theory Building and Programme Development"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing.

According to the International Platform on Sport and Development (IPSD, n.d.), there are currently 572 sport-for-development and peace (SFDP) organisations registered globally as of Summer 2014. On 6 April, 2014 the first International Day of Sport for Development and Peace was declared by the United Nations, which has long recognised and endorsed the value of sport within its millennium goals (Beutler, 2008).

Within recent years, the amount of conceptual and empirical scholarly work situated within the SFDP field has increased dramatically. Research has shown that sport, if designed and managed well, can positively affect a number of outcomes: sport can help individuals increase social capital and reduce social exclusion (Sherry, 2010; Sherry & Stryboch, 2012; Welty Peachey, Lyras, Borland, & Cohen, 2013); sport can enhance social capital in ethnically divided communities (Schulenkorf, Thomson & Schlenker, 2011); and sport can play a vital role in peace-building efforts and help reduce prejudice (Lyras, 2012; Sugden, 2008; Welty Peachey, Cunningham, Lyras, Cohen & Bruening, in press), among other outcomes.

What has not been engaged in to any great extent is the process of theory building in SFDP related to programme development and design (Coalter, 2007, 2013; Lyras & Welty Peachey, 2011). The limited research has demonstrated that the efficacy of sport in development and peace efforts is dependent upon how sport is designed and implemented (Coalter, 2013). However, to date, little scholarly attention has been given to theory building and to identifying specific SFDP programme components that are related to specified short- and long-term outcome measures.

Therefore, the aim of this special issue is to provide a platform for the examination of theory building as related to programme development and implementation within the SFDP arena. This is a critical need within the field and will contribute to the ongoing discourse regarding the long-term viability and sustainability of SFDP programmes, and to the undergirding theory and programme design components which can serve as foundational frameworks.

Conceptual, theoretical and empirical work engaging with SFDP theory building and programme development are welcome for this special issue.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • The role of theory in SFDP
  • Developing programme theory in SFDP
  • Theory testing in SFDP
  • Value of context-specific versus generalisable SFDP theory
  • Effective programme design and development in SFDP
  • Programme design and development issues and challenges
  • SFDP programme assessment
  • Examining programme components related to specified outcomes
  • Translating theory into practice
  • Efficacy of blending sport, education and culture for SFDP (i.e. Oympism)

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 January, 2015
Notification to authors: 31 March, 2015
Final versions due: 31 May, 2015

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