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International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
On 6 April is celebrated the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. As the United Nations says, “this Day presents an opportunity to recognise the positive role sport and physical activity play in communities and in people’s lives across the globe. Sport is, and continues to be, one of the most effective tools for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”. To mark the occasion, we would like to introduce you to the FIT! Senegal Initiative, implemented by LuxDev with the Team Europe.
Senegal is without doubt a country where sporting culture is important. Many young people practise a sporting discipline every day, in the streets, on the beaches, but also in unusual places, such as pitches located in the centre of busy roads, due to the lack of local infrastructure dedicated to sport.
Picture: Comité national olympique et sportif du Sénégal
In 2026, Senegal will host the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the first Olympic event ever organised in Africa. The International Olympic Committee shares the vision that "the Dakar 2026 YOG will be a catalyst for a sporting, social, cultural, educational and economic transformation that will create new hopes, new opportunities and confidence for young people".
With this in mind, the FIT! Senegal Initiative aims to help young people find decent and sustainable jobs, as part of the legacy of the Dakar YOG.
To help meet this challenge, LuxDev will be implementing an initiative aimed at integrating a "sport and development" approach into vocational and technical training establishments. The aim is to enable young people to develop their soft skills through sport, in order to strengthen their prospects for professional integration.
To support this approach, LuxDev, in collaboration with the Organising Committee of the Dakar 2026 YOG, will be deploying the Olympic, civic and sports certificate in schools, in particular through the Olympic values education programme. This programme consists of educational resources created by the International Olympic Committee to enable communities to develop their personality through the acquisition of new skills. The aim is to contribute to a peaceful and better world, by educating young people through sport, without discrimination of any kind, in the Olympic spirit, which demands mutual understanding, a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
Picture: Comité national olympique et sportif du Sénégal
Other sports-related initiatives are planned as part of the FIT! Senegal Initiative, such as the construction of sports facilities in schools using the "chantier école" approach and the organisation of a trades, sport and culture competition.
The FIT! Senegal Initiative is driven by Senegal's Ministry of Vocational Training, Apprenticeship and Integration, the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee and the European Union. The Initiative is co-financed by the European Union, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland as part of the Team Europe approach. Agence Française de Développement (AFD), AICS (the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation), GIZ (the German Agency for International Cooperation) and LuxDev (Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency) are working together to promote the employability of young people.
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