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More work is needed on measuring the impact of Sport for Development (SFD) organization and on the managerial structures and processes for change. The purpose of the current study was to analyze the logic model (LM) of a SFD program in Canada that provides training for high school coaches in low socioeconomic communities in Montreal. Methods: Key actors (i.e., coaches, program administrators, school directors, and sport coordinators; N=22) were interviewed about their perceptions of the different components of the organization’s LM, namely the program’s context, the initial problem it addressed, its needs, objectives, input, output, and impacts. Findings: Findings reveal the participants perceived the program as being successful by all key actors. Participants had similar understandings regarding the targeted problem and context, but their views differed regarding their understanding of the program’s activities. In addition, the key actors made suggestions to improve the program, including clarifying its objectives, reinforcing internal communication, and building stronger partnerships with the partner schools. Conclusions: Findings from the present study provide recommendations to help improve the organization’s LM. In addition, these findings can help researchers and SFD administrators reinforce essential organizational program structures and activities for better management, evaluation, and improved impact on communities.

This study focused on lessons learned from the Physical Education Curriculum under the reign of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We conducted an unprecedented analysis of ISIS primary school physical education curriculum. The research objective focused on describing and analyzing the context and intentions of the document as well as its content (didactic, pedagogy, learning assessment, among others). We also analyzed the general scientific quality of the curriculum of physical education targeting fitness preparation by the instructor in charge of the education of the youth. In addition, our analysis focused on the philosophical and contextual issues of the manual. Findings revealed an incomplete and a rapidly developed textbook where several essential elements related to pedagogy, didactics, learning and assessment were missing or inconsistent. The logic of military preparation under the guise of preparing the student’s physical condition was an important finding without being explicitly mentioned. Integration of religious content was present without being affirmed in the content of the lessons. We argue that the ISIS physical education curriculum appears to be committed to an absolutist/theocratic ideological or propaganda program that, among other things, promotes the preparation of the future soldiers of the ISIS army. Recommendations about secularization and the reconstruction of post-ISIS education systems are formulated.

La littérature n’a pas encore bien documenté les éléments relatifs de l’adoption de saines habitudes de vie (SHV) sur le long terme (LT). Les chercheurs invitent désormais à compléter les nombreuses études quantitatives par des devis qualitatifs ou mixtes qui permettraient de mieux expliquer les conditions nécessaires à l’adoption ou au maintien des SHV sur le LT. La présente étude s’inscrit dans ces perspectives et cherche à comprendre les conditions gagnantes de l’adoption et du maintien de SHV. Des entretiens collectifs semi-structurés ont été menés auprès de trois groupes d’étudiants universitaires habitués à réfléchir sur ce type de questionnement de par leur formation et leurs expériences (deux groupes au baccalauréat en éducation physique et à la santé (EPS) et un groupe à la maîtrise en sciences de l’activité physique (M) dans une université québécoise). Les discussions collectives ont été analysées au travers de la méthode des catégories conceptualisantes. Les résultats identifient des conditions gagnantes dominantes dans l’adoption et le maintien de SHV, tels le rôle du milieu familial, de la diversité et du choix des activités physique lorsqu’on est jeune, l’environnement physique et social, l’autonomie, mais aussi la santé psychologique qui est étroitement liée avec la santé physique. Ces résultats ont été modélisés sous la forme d’un parcours idéal, qui trace l’impact de conditions gagnantes de l’enfance jusqu’à l’âge adulte pour l’adoption et le maintien des SHV. La méthodologie innovante de cette étude « à rebours », inspirée des méthodes de rétroingénieurie de l’industrie, ouvre la porte à de futures recherches qualitatives dans le domaine. Investiguer des parcours, en tenant compte des différentes phases de développement des enfants et adolescents pour identifier des facteurs de changement et de maintien de SHV, semble en effet être une avenue intéressante et nécessaire pour la recherche du domaine.

More research on Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) organizations is needed to better understand their actual contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, the unstable, restricted or even risky contexts in which many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and SDP agencies sometimes operate often leave researchers to face important challenges in order to develop effective or feasible methods to work with such organizations. The purpose of this study is to address ontological and epistemological questions about what should be known about a given context in an organization before setting off on fieldwork. We propose a methodology, based on the Actantial Model, as a method to analyze the nature and context of a project, to assess the actors involved in the project, and to establish if the global cost (i.e., material, temporal, financial, and physical) for conducting fieldwork is realistic and feasible of all parties involved in the potential project. In order to illustrate this process, we analyzed the nature and context of an SDP project in Madagascar as a first step for a potential collaborative research. As researchers, we do not want to invest time and energy to build up a fully developed field research project with an NGO in a context where it would not be realistic or feasible to conduct such research. Actually, in this context, to develop a research protocol without an implementation strategy might not only be detrimental to the researchers, but also to the NGO itself, where resources are often limited. Accordingly, results from this preliminary field research demonstrate that the Actantial Model is a relevant analytical tool for obtaining insights about the context, the actors, and their relationships within an NGO. In conclusion, this model might be a useful instrument for conducting an initial analysis for the preliminary identification of the necessary conditions for the construction of a sustainable empirical research partne

A previous paper focuses on the research protocol used to conduct a holistic and complex review on the social dimension of the human being. This theoretical chapter focuses on created a model about the constituent elements of social development of human beings evolving into a contemporary democratic society. From a cross-reading of the thoughts of ancient and contemporary authors, a number of structural, conceptual and dynamic elements related to this subject emerged. The linkage and articulation of these elements gave birth to an integrative model reflecting the complexity of the different components of the social dimension of human beings and their development. This chapter, based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological approach, unveils the process of developing this grid as well as the justification of the constituent elements that it comprises. It establishes a first foundation of knowledge synthesis on the social dimension of human beings.

Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) is an international movement that began in the 2000s with the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) and is currently continuing around the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030, driven by international organizations such as UNESCO. Often located in an international development context, organizations and associations use sport as a vehicle to reach several social and humanitarian missions (e.g., education, social cohesion, health, reintegration, diplomacy, peace). This chapter presents the origins and objectives of the SDP, but it also looks at current research in the field. Since 2010, studies have significantly increased in the field around four main areas (macrosociological, field explorations, program management and evaluation, and literature reviews). This chapter also provides illustrations of SDP research projects, axis of tensions between practice and theory, and perspectives for future research in the field.