Project leader: European Observatory of Sports and Employment (EOSE)

Project partner: Hungarian University of Sports Science (HUSS)

Project ID: 622128-EPP-1-2020-FR-SPO-SCP

Start Date: January 01, 2021-

End Date: December 31, 2023

Total Grant: 450 000 euros

HUSS partial grant: 13 470 euro

Description of project:

The project aims to provide practical solutions to some key challenges in the world of sport volunteering. There is substantial evidence over many years that volunteers are vital to sport. They give freely of their time and energy, but they also gain much informal learning through their voluntary work. One of V4V’s founding principles is that, if there is a way to make these skills and competences visible, this could be a powerful incentive to engaging more volunteers. As appropriate to the ambitions and needs of individual volunteers, making their skills and competences visible could also ease their transition into paid employment, help career progression and begin to address some of the sectoral skill shortages which other research, such as EOSE’s ESSA-Sport project has revealed. Another challenge is that sport volunteering is in decline, and it is vital we do more to care for and retain sport volunteers and make better use of what they can contribute.

With the support of 12 high profile expert partners from the European sport sector, V4V aims to provide the following outputs:

• A comprehensive mapping of sport volunteer workforce
• A digital toolkit for volunteer recruitment, retention and management
• An online competency-based self-assessment tool so volunteers can identify and showcase skills and competences gained through volunteering experiences
• The first ever European Sport Volunteering Skills Summit

The project consists of four project elements (IO1-IO4), of which the Hungarian University of Sport Sciences is the leader of the first project element (IO1). This project element represents the research part of the project. Data collection was carried out using three methods, namely document analysis, interviews and questionnaires on volunteering in the partner countries.

Partners:

1. European Observatory of Sports and Employment (EOSE)
2. International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)
3. European Volunteer Centre (CEV)
4. World Rugby (WRF)
5. International Judo Federation Academy Foundation (IJF)
6. Romanian Football Federation (FRF)
7. Finnish Athletics Federation (SUL)
8. The Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA)
9. Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth (IDPJ)
10. Estonian Foundation of Sports Education and Information
11. National Institute for Sport Research (NISR)
12. Leeds Beckett University (LBU)
13. Hungarian University of Sports Sciences (HUSS)

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Project leader: International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)

Project partner: Hungarian University of Sports Science (HUSS)

Start Date: January 01, 2022-

End Date: November 30, 2022

Description of project:

Soft Skills for Soft Diplomacy pilot project aimed at exploring specific methods to enable professional athletes to develop skills that may help them act in various diplomatic roles and relations in their second career phase. The majority of professional athletes and graduating students of sport universities experience the massive lack of skills and understanding of diplomacy, international relations, intercultural challenges, protocol and language skills required when working for a sport club, federation or institution. Raising awareness of one’s own skills, objectives and opportunities has been achieved through our project at several levels. We explore the specific needs this emerging pool of sport professionals may need and elaborated some platforms and recommendations to eliminate this knowledge gap are the specific goals our project team wishes to tackle.

The pool of participants included former and current students of the Hungarian University of Sports Sciences (HUSS) Sport Diplomacy Program, former and active professional athletes, decision makers in sport related positions and HUSS students. Furthermore, the 6th of May Sport Diplomacy Forum has integrated a table tennis tournament that celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy, and an online section on skills required for a successful sport diplomat career where acting diplomats and institutional partner representatives from various countries joined the discussion.

It is worth underlining the relevance of this project at various levels:

• This initiative has been a ground breaker in embracing an international (ISCA) effort to study the ways we can foster sport diplomacy along with 5 grassroots organizations.
• On a national scale, it has been experimental in combining various views and approaches from diplomacy, HE, sport management and sport profession on the skills of a sport diplomat.
• On an institutional level, HUSS has boosted the efforts and its network in the study of sport diplomacy, entered a European project successfully, and fostered the development of an English language sport diplomacy program with our international partners.
• On a team and individual level: we have joined efforts of our SD alumni, current students and faculty and created two events (1 on campus and 1 abroad), an interview and a questionnaire series and a thesis.

Partners:

1. International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)
2. Hungarian University of Sports Sciences (HUSS)
3. Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti (UISP) APS Roma
4. National Danish Performance Team – Danish Gymnastic Association (DGI)
5. FC Internationale Berlin 1980 e.V
6. ITTF Foundation

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Project leader: ENGSO Youth

Start date: January 01, 2019

End Date: November 30, 2022

Project obejctives:

• Create a platform for sharing and transfer of knowledge in the fields of sport-based non-formal and formal education between partner organisations and stakeholders representing the youth, education and sport sectors;
• Up-skill youth sport trainers, youth workers, youth leaders and NGO staff to increase knowledge, skills and competences in the field of sustainable development through sport and for empowering young people they work within their local communities;
• Raise awareness on the educational power of sport activities together with the importance of using the potential of large-scale and middle-scale sport events also for educational purposes.
• Gather information on good practices in the field of sustainable development through sport and develop an online training manual for delivering the SDG workshop;
• Provide learning and mobility opportunities for disadvantaged young people to experience the educational legacy of Tokyo 2020, Dakar 2022 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games;
• Create legacy activities to support the post-Tokyo 2020 youth sports education and link it with the pre-educational activities of Dakar 2022 and Paris 2024;
• Build capacity and create synergies through partners from different sectors.