Using Sports to Teach Kids About the Millennium Development Goals

October 28, 2009—Dina Buchbinder Auron is a 2009 YouthActionNet Fellow from Mexico. She founded Deport-es para Compartir which teaches kids about important global issues through games and sports. Youthink! asked her for an inside look into her project.

Youthink!: How did you get interested in development work?

Dina: We are all worried about something: education, health, hunger, equality, global warming, discrimination, etc. Being worried is ok as long as there is some action to your worries.

I have been interested in development work since I can remember. I have had amazing experiences. For example, when I was 12 years old I participated for 3 years in workshops for disabled young people, where I learned more than I could have imagined. I started to realize that we all can get involved and make contributions that will allow us to develop our interests, learn, and feel fulfilled. Since that age, I felt committed to contributing to something special.

Being born and raised in Mexico, magnificent and rich in culture on the one hand and full of contrast on the other, made me realize I had to gain deeper knowledge of how I could face the most important challenges such as poverty, inequality and discrimination. That is why I decided to study international relations where I discovered wise and inspiring development authors such as Amartya Sen. His thoughts make so much sense to me. My focus on development is in practice every day, with and for children and youth through Deport-es para Compartir …

I think about each of us as participants, not spectators. To be interested in what happens in your surroundings and getting involved is all it takes. There are so many issues to be aware of, and supporting others too, to create awareness is really beneficial. I absolutely agree with the notion that positive renders positive.

Youthink!: How did you get the idea for Deport-es para Compartir?

Dina: In January 2007 I was selected to participate in the "Ship for World Youth," organized by the Japanese government. During this wonderful journey, a Canadian friend told me about a project called Sport-in-a-Box in Canada, which immediately captured my interest. My friend asked if anyone would take this initiative to their countries: I said yes. Shortly after returning to Mexico, I asked a friend if he would start this with me and we did!

We spent many months adapting the material, translating everything and creating new material for Mexican realities, some of them very different and contrasting to Canada´s. We also developed a way to measure the impact this program has on children and in Mexico. Parents are included in one session so they would be able to understand the adventure their children experience.

Youthink!: How does it work; how do you use games and sports to educate children about the MDGs?

Dina: In different sessions, interrelated MDGs are introduced to children aged 8 to 14, through thematic games involving physical activity. The aim is to convey to participants that physical activity and sport should be universal (for all) and completely inclusive. Key elements in all games include fair play, team work, respect, tolerance, equality, participation, and pacific relationship building among youth peer groups.

During and after each game we raise questions about how participants felt, and how they relate to issues, such as, why it is important to prevent disease, how it can be done, and how can we help others in prevention. Other relevant topics relate to the environment, the impact of waste water, how other regions and countries might be affected, and the importance of having men and women work equally  together

Certain activities after the games are meant for children to act on their learning experience, for example, some campaign in their communities to clean up the river, some gather plastic material, and others plant trees.
 
Through these games we invite children and youth to participate, reflect, take responsibility and action, and share. Watch a video that illustrates our work »

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Youthink!: How do you get kids to engage and want to make a difference?

Dina: We empower all participants as Ambassadors of Deport-es para Compartir and they proudly represent the program and take it to their families, their neighbors, and their schools.

The children and youth become aware of the many important roles they can play, the impact they can have, and realize that no contribution is too small. They realize that what we live every day is not the only scenario happening. We live in a "bubble," but we shouldn't; we can and should think beyond our "bubble."

Youthink!: Can you share any stories of individuals to whom the program has made a difference?

Dina: Some parents have told us about their children's attitude at home; that they participate more, are more active, more willing to help, and also propose environmentally friendly disposal of garbage, i.e. separation of organic and inorganic.

Ramoncito (9-years-old) in third grade (from a public elementary school located in Mexico City) told us during a session on the environment about how his dad was wasting water (letting it run) while brushing his teeth. The boy asked him why he was doing that. His dad answered: "Because I pay for it." The boy answered with another question: "Dad, do you know there are many children in Mexico and other countries that have no water to drink?"

We have surveys to measure impact. Within this survey there are open questions and children also find an opportunity to make their voices heard.

Our team has seen time and again how girls and boys interact in friendlier ways, already after the first sessions; they start including everyone and think that it's really great to play together!

Youthink!: Anything else you'd like to share with us?

Dina: Yeees!!! I don't know where to begin, but I'll try!

What I love about the MDGs is that they address human rights above anything else. Hunger, health, equality, environment, education are inherent to our nature as human beings no matter where we were born, our economic situation, religion, color, sexual or political orientation. I feel passionate about them also because of what they represent: they can only be achieved if we are together, if there is teamwork.

Speaking of which, so many people have believed in this program and contributed toward making it a reality. The actors involved go from my family, all the way to teachers, friends, counselors, advisors, designers, methodologist, film makers, young people who are fulltime committed with enthusiasm, attitude, motivation, talent, and belief in the hope that we can live in a fair world.

There is a positive, contagious effect that these kinds of programs have at many levels. For instance, not only children and communities are learning. Children and communities with whom we have worked and shared have taught us, at Deport-es para Compartir, so much. They have made us better persons, more sensible and humble. We have learned to appreciate and value the simple yet great beauty where they live, the richness of their languages, how they are the best hosts (receiving you with everything when they have apparently nothing), the way they enjoy life and live fully.

We get to learn about diversity with such a kind and friendly approach, learning from so many so many Mexicos; so many cultures, languages, traditions, games, legends, looks and smiles. We are privileged and proud to have worked and be working with a range of indigenous cultures, including: Coras, Huicholes, Mixes, Tsotsiles, Tseltales, Zoques, Amuzgos, Tepehuanos, Mazatecos, Mixtecos.

We have created networks. Only in a diverse, multidisciplinary, committed team like the one I have, we can have the capacity to take a program of this nature to such extent. 12,500 children and youth (without counting their teachers and parents) maybe sounds simple, but it´s still an adventure I consider challenging to describe.

I would like to express and share my wish to introduce this program, Deport-es para Compartir, to other communities in Mexico and beyond its borders.

Dina is a 2009 YouthActionNet Global Fellow. Launched by the International Youth Foundation and Nokia, YouthActionNet strengthens, supports, and celebrates the role of young people in leading positive change.

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