Sport is fun, keeps you fit and creates bonds between people. But it is more than just a bit of fun, more than just a game: sport can also contribute to processes of social change. Its potential to act as an integrative force in society and to have a general impact on public policy means that it can effectively support development processes. Sport is extremely well suited to promoting communicative activities between and within different groups. Because sporting activities do not need to communicate on an abstract verbal level, they can create passion and connectedness of a kind that would be difficult to achieve through language. Sport is also the very epitome of learning by doing. The collective aspect of sport – free of cultural, religious or political bias – promotes dialogue on a playful basis and can provide impetus for democratic political behaviour. Loosely based on the saying that ‘a game can paint a thousand words,’ we at AgenZ use sport and sporting events as a vehicle for communication and disseminating ideas.

Sport acts as a vehicle for ideas in numerous areas of technical cooperation. It plays a supporting role in areas as disparate as basic education, peace education, gender equality, violence prevention and health promotion. At the macro level major sporting events have the capacity to set in motion far-reaching transformation processes. In developing and emerging countries, in particular, sporting events can act as both anchors and levers for political and economic development. Moreover, major sporting events can have a lasting effect on the way a country is perceived. The 2006 Football World Cup in Germany, for example, resulted in an enormous boost to the country's image worldwide. The know-how and experience Germany gained in planning and implementing that tournament can now be of benefit to other host countries.

GTZ has considerable experience in sports related project work. In South Africa, for example, the Youth Development through Football project (YDF) uses football as a way of motivating socially deprived children and young people to deal with issues such as violence, crime, drugs, HIV and AIDS. YDF exploits football in a fun way to teach youngsters skills which will help them to take full advantage of their prospects and opportunities. At the same time, the project – implemented on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-financed by the European Union – illustrates how sport can open up routes to largely inaccessible target groups, such as those traumatised by war or who suffer the consequences of abuse, drug addiction or social exclusion.

Major sporting events can be of particular benefit in promoting social consolidation and nation-building processes in fragmented societies. On behalf of BMZ, for example, AgenZ assisted South Africa with its hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2010 and supporting the Ukraine in its preparations to host the UEFA European Championships in 2012. The portfolio of advisory services is multilayered. In South Africa the objective was to use the Football World Cup as a framework for dialogue platforms and to present the continent of Africa as modern, innovative and welcoming. Support for the Ukraine ranges from the provision of advisory services on infrastructure and management to the development of communication and marketing strategies. Individual measures are packaged into socio-political concepts and dialogue forums. It is here that AgenZ can use its core competence of shaping political dialogues and placing messages effectively in the international arena where the state, the market and civil society intersect.

Sports events also create an ideal framework for communicating socio-political messages. Awareness campaigns for AIDS or the removal of taboos surrounding hygiene and sanitation can be constructively integrated into the context of sporting events. WASH United provides a prime example of one such successful campaign and networking activity – WASH stands for water, sanitation and hygiene. Made up of African and European football stars, the virtual football club raises awareness about the issues of good hygiene and sanitation. One of the backdrops for the campaign is the Football World Cup in South Africa, where several other events are also planned.

AgenZ provides support in preparing and implementing major sporting events, and in collaboration with the partner and GTZ develops a socio-political framework for project work in the field. Political communication and strategic marketing also generate an appeal that often reaches far beyond the actual work of the project.