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ASEAN Football4SDGs: Activating the ASEAN Declaration on Leveraging the Role of Sports in ASEAN Community-Building and Achieving the SDGs

Proponent:ASEAN Secretariat
Implementing Agency:Portas Consulting Limited

Background

Sport is acknowledged for its vital role in advancing the goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It serves as a potent tool for promoting social inclusion, health, and educational opportunities. In the same vein, ASEAN has consistently committed itself to harness the power of sports to realise the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, guided by the ASEAN Work Plan on Sports 2021-2025.

In line with the economic and social progress within the region, the importance of sport has grown. This is evident as some ASEAN Member States have hosted major international sporting events, such as the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia and the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia. Furthermore, the “ASEAN Declaration on Leveraging the Role of Sports in the ASEAN Community-Building and Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals” underscores the integral role of sports in these developmental pursuits.

However, in practice, leveraging the influential power of sport to yield meaningful effects poses challenges within the region. These challenges primarily stem from: (1) limited understanding and cooperation among key stakeholders; (2) limited knowledge of best practices; and (3) the absence of appropriate strategies, tools, and capacity to deliver concrete actions.

To address these challenges, the Government of Japan, through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), supports the implementation of the project ASEAN Football4SDGs: Activating the ASEAN Declaration on Leveraging the Role of Sports in ASEAN Community-Building and Achieving the SDGs.

What is the project aiming for?

The project aims to utilise sport, specifically football, as a means to contribute to the SDGs through tangible initiatives and collaborative partnerships. This endeavor seeks to foster mutual benefit and cooperative success, thereby enhancing prosperity in the region. It will produce, inter alia, the following:

  • A diagnostic report on ASEAN football;
  • A comprehensive report outlining international best practices for achieving the SDGs through football;
  • Toolkits designed to advance the SDGs through football;
  • In-person workshops implemented in three pilot countries namely, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand;
  • An “ASEAN-Japan SDGs through Football” forum; and
  • A Master Plan for ASEAN for SDGs through football.

“WE, the Fourth ASEAN Plus Japan Ministerial Meeting on Sports (4th AMMS+Japan), gathered in Chiang Mai on 1 September 2023, consisting of the Sports Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred to as “ASEAN”) and Japan do hereby agree to achieve SDGs through sports, starting with the implementation of ASEAN Football4SDGs Project: Activating the ASEAN Declaration on Leveraging the Role of Sports in ASEAN Community-Building and Achieving the SDGs to identify potential cooperation areas based on ASEAN’s needs as well as raise stakeholders’ awareness and capacity”.

Chiang Mai Declaration on Strengthening ASEAN-Japan Cooperation on Sports Towards 2030

1 September 2023

Chiang Mai, Thailand

The project contributes to the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025, particularly to Action Line E.1.VI. Promote cooperation in sports and develop comprehensive and inclusive sports programmes to encourage healthy and active lifestyles. Further, this project supports Goal 3 of the SDGs, which is one of the thematic areas outlined in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).

The project is currently underway and scheduled to be completed in October 2025.

As of 30 May 2024

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