Abu Dhabi up and running
The Leeds Declaration on Community Sport for Development and Diplomacy is open for signature (link below)! Tom Williams and I are also back in Abu Dhabi this week to attend the Sport Industry Forum (thank you - and congratulations on a brilliant event - Chris and Sally Corander at Interact) and to scope out venues for community events across the Emirate.
The last few days have reassured me further that collectively, we must be on to something. Two weeks ago we were in Leeds discussing the potential for greater community sport impact in the UK and around the world. Two days ago we listened to senior ministers from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia discuss the importance of grassroots, community sport in the same breath as celebrating elite sport.
Tom and I then spent the last few days walking around various parks and open spaces across Abu Dhabi buoyed with the thought that in the coming months and years these places will be living proof of how community sport continues to spring up all around the world. And with it yet more evidence of the impact that events like these have on individual, collective and societal health. Thank you again to colleagues at the Abu Dhabi Department for Community Development for trusting and supporting our work.
This week we (J Simon Rofe, Dr Jo Clarke, Tom and I) also launched the Leeds Declaration on Community Sport for Development and Diplomacy, that followed the Leeds Summit. Thank you to Simon Lansley for hosting the Declaration and summit-follow-up on the ConnectSport CIC website.
Thank you as well to everyone who commented, contributed and honed the Declaration which I hope will strengthen recognition and support for community sport leaders, whilst helping to increase the impact of their work.
Please do take a look and if you would like to associate with it in a personal capacity or on behalf of your organisation, drop me an email at chris.lomax@participateworld.org and I’ll add you to the list.
You can find the declaration here: https://lnkd.in/e6d7SdR7
