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The Colombianitos Foundation (CF) is a pioneering youth development organization that utilizes football as a pedagogical instrument to promote life skills, civic values, and social inclusion in vulnerable communities across Colombia. This study aims to challenge the foundational assumption that sport can catalyze positive change and impart civic values, by investigating the perceived change and efficacy of the CFs Goals for a Better Life program on positive youth development in Colombia. Employing a qualitative research methodology, 28 in-depth interviews with administrators and coaches were conducted, followed by a content analysis to identify thematic patterns. The findings reveal CF's transformative capacity in cultivating human capital, social and societal capital, and distinct programmatic characteristics. CF's interventions foster significant behavioral changes, such as improved conflict resolution and non-violent communication, while promoting essential life skills and social cohesion. Moreover, the study illustrates CF's role in generating a ripple effect, wherein the benefits extend beyond individual participants to their families and the broader community. CF challenges entrenched gender norms through its mixed-gender team structure, aligning with SDG 5, and demonstrates a commitment to fostering peaceful, inclusive societies in line with SDG 16. By grounding its approach in evidence-based evaluation and leveraging strategic partnerships, CF exemplifies a sustainable model of sport-for-development. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of sport's potential to drive long-term social transformation, offering empirical insights for future research and intervention design in post-conflict and marginalized settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the emerging field of sport-for-development (SFD) has advanced global efforts of related and applied scholarship and programming. While most of the existing SFD body of knowledge addresses social challenges of the "global south", today's economic global recession spreads challenges beyond these regions. Scholars and practitioners of this emerging field are called to address this gap with related and applied scholarship and programming in the "global north." Thus, the purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the perceived impact of the U.S.-based Street Soccer USA Cup on its homeless participants and identify the event's structures and processes that can facilitate positive outcomes. Data collection consisted of conducting focus group interviews with 11 players and six coaches, and engaging in direct observations. Data were analyzed through the process of open, axial, and selective coding. Results indicated positive perceived impact on participants through building a sense of community, creating hope, cultivating an outward focus, fostering goal achievement, and enhancing personal development. The Cup was effective in achieving positive impact through creating a celebratory and festive space for social interaction, and by creating an inclusive climate where achievement was celebrated. Findings derived from this research provide intriguing foundations for further research and development of the SFD field.

The current study investigated the impacts of a program that employed a blend of sports and cultural enrichment, known as Olympism, to build bridges between Greek and Turkish Cypriot children residing on the island of Cyprus. The four-month long program included two months of instructor training, meetings with the parents and a six-day summer camp that hosted 96 youth and 20 instructors from Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. A mixed methods approach was employed to assess the psychosocial impact of the program on the youth and the instructors. The data was analyzed using a multi-method approach that employed Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RMANOVA), t-tests, descriptive statistics and qualitative methods. The results indicated a statistically significant main effect on Time (within-subject variable) and Ethnicity (between subject variable) in Factor 1(Attitudes about Cross Cultural Interaction, Friendship and Collaboration). The RMANOVA indicated no statistically significant between-subject variable interactions. In addition, paired sample t-tests indicated statistically significant differences on the beliefs that through sports children can learn to collaborate more with other people. The great majority of the participants indicated that they made new friends and perceived positive intercommunal attitudinal changes as a result of their participation in the camp. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.)

The document titled "Ripples of change: transforming lives and communities through sport in Colombia" published in Frontiers in Sports & Active Living contains a correction notice regarding errors in the author list and text. Author Alexis Lyras was erroneously excluded from the author list, and corrections were made to section titles and acknowledgments. The document emphasizes the importance of recognizing the cultural and historical context of Colombia in sport-for-development research. The scientific conclusions of the article remain unchanged despite the errors. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this research project was to examine the impact of participating in a sport-for-peace event and one's social dominance orientation on prejudice and change agent self-efficacy. In Study 1, participants (n = 136) completed questionnaires both before and following their participation in a sport-for-peace event. The event was designed to ensure both high levels of and quality intergroup contact, with interactions confirmed through a manipulation check. Results from the doubly repeated measures analysis of variance indicate a significant decrease in prejudice and a significant increase in change agent self-efficacy. Social dominance orientation did not influence the nature of these changes. In Study 2, the authors conducted focus group interviews with 27 participants to better understand how the event impacted prejudice and change agent self-efficacy. Results indicate that the team-based sport environment and social opportunities were instrumental in prejudice reduction while the educational platform was important for increasing change agent self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much sport-for-development (SFD) research has focused on the impact initiatives have on participants, and not on other stakeholders such as volunteers. Some research suggests volunteerism enables social capital gains, while other scholars have been skeptical, with even less known about how volunteers are impacted by working for SFD events rather than for ongoing programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how, if at all, a large, multinational SFD event contributed to social capital development of volunteers. Findings revealed volunteers experienced social capital development through building relationships, learning, and enhanced motivation to work for social change and reciprocity. As very little research has examined the efficacy of SFD events in contributing to social capital development, the findings extend the literature on SFD events. It would be prudent for SFD events to target programming to impact the experience of volunteers to retain them and contribute to social capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the importance of volunteers within the sport industry, there have been increased efforts to determine the motivation behind these acts of volunteerism. However, most research has focused on volunteers with professional sporting events and organizations, and very few studies have investigated volunteer motivations behind sport-for-development initiatives. The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivation of volunteers who chose to take part in the World Scholar-Athlete Games, a multinational sport-for-development event, and to identify factors related to their retention. This qualitative study was guided by the functional approach to volunteer motivation. Results revealed volunteers were motivated by values, social, understanding, career and self-enhancement factors. In addition, volunteers whose initial motivations for volunteering were satisfied continued to donate time to the event year after year. Implications for theory and practice, as well as future research directions, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most studies on the use of sport with marginalized populations have centered upon the impact on participants, with few studies examining the impact of these interventions on other stakeholder groups, such as volunteers. While it has been contended that volunteering provides a form of social participation and civic engagement that can foster development of citizenship and social capital, these ideas are disputed and lack empirical evidence. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Street Soccer USA on its volunteers. Street Soccer USA uses soccer to provide a support system to homeless individuals for making positive life changes. The findings of this qualitative study with five teams in the United States revealed that volunteering fostered the preconditions for and actual social capital development by enhancing awareness and understanding about homelessness, building community and relationships with the homeless, enhancing passion to work in the social justice field, and developing self-satisfaction through a ‘feel good’ mentality. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the use of sport to aid in social capital development. By creating increased understanding and a sense of community between different social groups, greater community cohesion and more inclusive social capital can be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the motivations of individuals in volunteering in sport-for-homeless initiatives. The theoretical framework of functional approach suggests that individuals engage in volunteer work to satisfy different needs and goals that revolve around motivational functions. Street Soccer USA (SSUSA) is a non-profit organization with a mission to use soccer as a means to help homeless men, women, and children make positive changes in their lives.