Sport as a Developement Tool

In the beginning of the new year 25 Jordanian school teachers from the town of Zarqa chose to use a week of their vacation on learning how to use sport as a tool in developing social skills. The target group is the youth of Zarqa who will through their teachers learn about conflict resolution, team building and self-confidence.

Laura Toft Nielsen

24. January 2010

The belief that conflict can lead to co-operation

“You should not start acting a referee yourself, when you just have explained that there is no referee in the game!” an elderly teacher shouts. “No, no – but then you have to solve the problem quick and get the game started again by yourself” laughs Amal Loubani and withdraws. The game is ultimate frisbee, and playing with a frisbee is new for most of the participants. The eagerness to learn the rules of the game and make the game function raises the pulse and the voices.  

Amal is one out of three Danish trainers who have travelled to Jordan for the Danish organization GES, Global Education through Sport. The workshop is arranged by a partnership between GES, MS Actionaid Denmark and the Jordanian organization Madrasati. The latter being a project started by the royal organization Queen Rania Center which aims at – through a co-operation between the Ministry of Education and the private sector - strengthening public schools in exposed areas. “In the long term this co-operation is an advantage for the project, because one of the objectives is also to get the different tools implemented as a permanent part of the curriculum in Jordan” says Sanne Loft from MS. 

On the field the first ultimate game gets started and the participants cheer at each other. This is active learning and conflict resolution in practice. The women also participate. Some minutes pass before the game hits a flow, but then the tempo increases. A woman wearing a violet jilbab (dress) and a hijab (headscarf) raises her arms and shouts with joy. She scored!

”Ultimate creates something special when it comes to conflict resolution, because of the fact that there is no referee” says Hanna Tordardottir from GES. “But all sports are fantastic, because it makes people unfold. Sports make people discuss and communicate which create an atmosphere were trust and self-confidence can grow. The key word throughout this workshop is exactly to develop such life skills.”

 

Sport is not an unproblematic tool in developing social skills

Muhammed Machmoud Alkudar, who is a teacher and participant at the workshop, explains that girls and boys do not have mixed sports classes after sixth grade. This is possible at several schools in Amman through all grades. “People in Zarqa are more conservative than in Amman”, he says.

Zarqa is today the second largest city in Jordan. It was shaped originally as a military base and a as Palestinian refugee camp after 1948. Many years ago the tents became houses, but the people in Zarqa are still a very mixed group, poor and marked by difficult conditions of life. In the latter years the city has grown due to Iraqi immigration.

Tradition and gender is not the main focus at this workshop, but the point arose several times. For example Hanna from GES stresses, that it is not a requirement that the participants hug when they make a spirit circle after the games. In the evaluation in the end of the day, the issues get relevant again. Four supervisors from the Ministry of Education also participate in the workshop. A male supervisor brings up, that the clothes of the women need to be adjusted, so they can move about more easily. Another supervisor shakes his head. It might not be that easy.

 

”I am sure that the youth of Zarqa gains from the way we use sport. It is important that both boys and girls get these tools. They need to learn them now, and not when they have left the school”, says Muhammed Machmoud Alkudar. Even though sport is not an unproblematic tool, it can help in creating strong and active young people, who as adults also would be inspired to civic engagement.

 

Facts: The workshop was arranged in a partnership between MS Actionaid Denmark, GES and Madrasati. The Danish Ministry of foreign Affairs has sponsored the Workshop through ‘Partnership for Progress and Reform’ (In Danish: ‘Det Arabiske Initiativ’).

Read more: GES, Global Education through Sport, started in 2004 in co-operation with DGI Copenhagen a project in Afghanistan supported by DANIDA _http://www.globaledusport.org/