Africa-France summit: sport and development stakeholders in Africa meet in Montpellier

Dakar, October 4, 2021 – The New Africa-France Summit will bring together for the first time hundreds of young entrepreneurs, artists, researchers, athletes, students and committed personalities from Africa and France. On the sports side, high-level athletes and amateur athletes from the African continent will meet for a day of sports activities, meetings and exchanges.

On this occasion, the Sport en Commun platform will be honoured in 3 stages:

• Presentation of its results after only 12 months of existence: 1,500 members, more than €1,000,000 in funding, more than 100 local experts listed!
• Presence of the Sport Impact Leaders, supported by Sport en Commun. Among them Ian Mahinmi, Estelle Mossely, Géraldine Robert, Youssouf Mulumbu, Diana Gandéga, Arnaud Assoumani, Rock Feliho, Fatou Diouck and Serge Betsen. They will present their own initiatives in favor of sport and development and share their experiences with the young people in attendance.
• Signature of a cooperation agreement between Sport en Commun and the International School Sport Federation (ISF) for the promotion and development of school sport on the African continent. ISF and Sport en Commun will work together to support local member federations, to deploy physical education and sports teacher training programmes, and to organise regional and international competitions on the continent.

“The promising start of the Sport en Commun platform confirms our ambition to make sport a key tool for economic and social development in Africa. The first actions deployed under the impetus of the French Development Agency have indeed enabled us to massively mobilise the local and international ecosystem, despite a restrictive economic and health context.

The collaboration announced with the ISF is a perfect illustration of the orientations of the Sport en Commun platform, which is based on strengthening cooperation between governments, international sports organisations, civil society, financing structures and companies. This summit, in its unprecedented format, is an excellent opportunity for exchange with the young beneficiaries of our various programmes and with model athletes who are sources of inspiration.”

Nelson Camara, Executive President of Sport Impact / Sport en Commun.

“We are very pleased to formalise our collaboration with Sport en Commun at this important international summit for Sport and Africa. This new partnership is part of the acceleration of our cooperation with African governments and international organisations active on the territory since our first World School Games (Gymnasiades) in Morocco in 2018. Today we have 36 member countries in Africa out of our 132 members on five continents and thousands of young African men and women who have participated in our international events. We are convinced that ISF and Sport en Commun will continue to develop together actions for sport through school and physical education for African youth but also to allow young people from all over the world to discover this wonderful continent through sport.”

Laurent Petrynka, President of ISF.

About Sport en Commun:

Initiated by AFD, Sport en Commun is a pan-African platform, managed from Dakar, whose mission is to support and finance projects related to development through sport in Africa.

Based on existing solutions and a range of tailor-made services, the Sport en Commun platform is a one-stop solution with four main missions:

• To promote and accelerate the funding of projects of all sizes (micro, meso and macro)
• To promote and accelerate the support of projects in different key phases: in particular incubation, structuring linked to fundraising, deployment and impact measurement.
• To facilitate connections and interactions between stakeholders
• To promote the theme and encourage the sharing of experience and feedback

After one year of existence, the platform has more than 1,500 members in some fifty African countries. Sport en Commun has also co-managed three project funding programmes and benefits from the support of six strong partners, including the International Coalition for Sustainable Development through Sport, for which it provides the secretariat.

About the ISF:

The International School Sport Federation (ISF) is recognised by the International Olympic Committee, and promote the values and interests of Education through Sport.

Their events, the World Schools Championships and the Gymnasiade, aim to promote among young people: mutual understanding, volunteering empowerment, peace, non-discrimination, healthy lifestyle, social inclusion, and gender equality. Thus it contributes to support the educative paths of the young people to empower them as citizens of the world. ISF pursues its goals independently from political, religious or racial considerations

Press contact : Syra SYLLA – ss@sport-impact.org – +221 77 644 20 15