Sport for Development and Peace in the United Nations: An Empirical Study on the Development of the Role of SDP in the UN in the Context of the Closure of the UNOSDP

Laura Schreiner; Valerie Kastrup; Jochen Mayer

doi:10.18778/1641-4233.29.06

Authors

Laura Schreiner Bielefeld University, Department of Sports Science
Valerie Kastrup Bielefeld University, Department of Sports Science
Jochen Mayer University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Department of Sports and Exercise https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2317-4164

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1641-4233.29.06

Keywords:

sport for development and peace, United Nations, systems theory, United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace, organisational structures

Abstract

In 2017, it was decided that the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) is to be closed. This qualitative study aims to analyse the reasons for the closure as well as its effects on Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) in the United Nations. Against the background of the systems theory, we conducted interviews with participants from relevant organisations. It is shown that the way the UNOSDP worked underwent a change and that the new tasks as well as their fulfilment were viewed controversially. Additionally, broader changes in development policy set a new frame for SDP.

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Author Biographies

Laura Schreiner, Bielefeld University, Department of Sports Science

Dr. Laura Schreiner was a research assistant at Bielefeld University in Germany until September 2022. Since finishing her master’s degree in “Sports Science. Organizational Development and Management” at Bielefeld University in 2017, she conducts research especially on sport for development and peace, organisational sociology, and systems theory with a special focus on qualitative social research. She did her PhD on the role of international and national governmental organisations in the field of “sport for development and peace”. She is a member of the “German Council on Foreign Relations”.

Valerie Kastrup, Bielefeld University, Department of Sports Science

Prof. Dr. Valerie Kastrup is a full professor of sports pedagogy at Bielefeld University in Germany. Her research interests include the professionalisation of physical education teachers, communication processes in sports contexts, pedagogical heterogeneity research, and qualitative methods of empirical social research.

After receiving her doctorate in 2008 and subsequently completing her teacher training for the teaching profession in physical education and Latin as well as the second state examination, she was appointed junior professor of physical education and didactics at Bielefeld University in 2010. In 2012, she followed up with an appointment as junior professor for sports education and sociology at Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, before returning to Bielefeld as a full professor in 2012.

Jochen Mayer, University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Department of Sports and Exercise

Prof. Dr. Jochen Mayer is a full professor of sports science at the University of Education in Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany. His research focusses on psychosocial health in elite sports, organisational development in sports, presenteeism and return-to-sport and participatory health promotion in higher education settings.

After his doctorate at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in 2009, he worked there as a senior lecturer until 2017. During this time he was also a visiting professor for sport and exercise science at the University of Hawaii at Hilo in the USA (2015) and for the sociology of sport at Bielefeld University (2016). Following his habilitation in 2017, he became a university professor for sociology of sport and health at the Georg-August University of Göttingen (2018–2020).

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