30 May 2024 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed a new collaboration agreement to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A first initiative – that aims to leverage the power of sport to tackle youth crime in Asia and advance youth skills development and livelihoods in Africa – will be launched this year.

Both organisations plan to invest EUR 1 million each to launch a joint programme that will fund sports and youth crime prevention projects in four countries across Asia.

• The programme will fund community-based sports projects that will reach thousands of at-risk young people. 
  
• Training and capacity building will also be provided to sports and criminal justice organisations to build their capability to deliver sports and youth crime prevention programmes.

This initiative will contribute to the objectives of global cooperation between the IOC and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to support the effective use of sport in preventing violence and crime and to enhance the role of sport and the sports sector in building peaceful and safe communities.

In addition, AFD plans to invest a further EUR 1 million into the Sport, Education and Sustainable Livelihoods in Africa programme, an existing two-year initiative launched by the IOC and Laureus Sport for Good to advance youth education and employability through sport in 13 African countries.

• This additional investment will help extend the number of community sport for employability and livelihoods projects from 16 to 25, reaching 12,000 young people.
  
• The number of organisations benefitting from technical assistance, training and capacity building will also increase from 30 to 45.

This agreement will open up new opportunities for increased synergies and co-investment in joint programmes, contributing to the Olympism365 strategy, efforts to support the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 and the capacity building of the sports movement.

Collaboration driven by Olympism365 strategy

The new collaboration with AFD aligns with the IOC’s Olympism365 strategy, which aims to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler for the UN SDGs, in line with Recommendation 10 of Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

In particular, the collaboration with AFD contributes to the goal of bringing together a range of organisations from both inside and outside the Olympic Movement to be a catalyst for collective action and innovation, helping to realise the potential of sport as a force for good.

The new partnership also builds on the existing relationship between the IOC and AFD, which includes working together with the Paris 2024 Organising Committee to extend the social legacy left by Paris 2024 at international level.