Community Sport and the Doha Forum

Whilst Tom Williams marked out a local football pitch, I was at the Doha Forum in Qatar this week listening to world leaders and meeting with politicians, diplomats, UN officials, civil society organisations, and academics.

Over 5,000 people attended sessions on finding peace in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Sudan and on Syria to name a few examples. There were discussions on the future of the international world order from global governance, to global health to humanitarian responses and managing strategic competition. Conflict, trade, human rights, AI, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, refugee protection and understanding migration all featured throughout the two days.

The importance of trust was a prominent theme, including as a block to finding global solutions, and that a lack of trust between countries erodes trust between peoples. Moreover, a mistrust of facts or expertise, compounded by mis and dis information on social media, creates more uncertainly around the world with global governance structures struggling to create a compelling vision for the future and therefore unable to craft implementable solutions.

I reckon that this common thread is more of a common gap. A literal distance between people coming together. Forums such as Doha and of course the United Nations, are ways to convene to find understanding. But this diplomatic top down view of the world can struggle to understand how to connect us at the roots. How to ensure an individual is connected to their community and then how connect their communities. Then from communities to nations, to regions, to global. And also how to craft initiatives that take root within communities.

Community sport creates that convening space. A space to connect and to find local solutions which when stitched together become a global force for good.

Community sport can help people returning back to their countries after conflict or help them integrate within societies. It can provide alternatives to radicalisation. It creates space for mediation and conflict resolution on an even playing field. It combats non-communicable diseases and offers space to discuss wider health issues within communities. On reflection, it probably can play a role in resolving, preventing or creating space for dialogue on most of the things we discussed at the Forum.

Exploring that with everyone I met in Doha was really inspiring. I could feel a line being drawn there and then between grass root, community sport and global diplomacy.  

Thank you to everyone who made the trip possible and I look forward to working through the many ideas that flowed from it, finding ways to link – and blur the lines between - community sport practitioners and global policy makers.