Commonwealth Sport Canada’s SportWORKS program returns to Botswana

Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) is in its 30^th year of using sport as a development tool to promote community and social development as well as build national sport capacity throughout the Commonwealth. In the past three decades, CSC’s international sport for development programs have impacted over two million youth in more than 30 nations and territories.

Since 2015, CSC has partnered with the Queen Elizabeth Scholars (QES) program and the Rideau Hall Foundation to support Canadian SportWORKS Officers in four-month assignments, as part of multi-year sport for development and sport development projects in Africa and the Caribbean. The projects focus in various areas such as the empowerment of women and girls, youth leadership development, community engagement, long-term athlete development (LTAD), and multi-sport games planning and implementation.

Following a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SportWORKS program resumes in Botswana, where CSC will partner with the Botswana National Olympic Committee and various national sport organizations in order to develop and implement an LTAD model.

Calgarian Eric Gratton, a senior Health and Physical Education student at Mount Royal University (MRU) will be the Canadian SportWORKS Officer leading this project starting in May 2022. With a major in physical literacy and a minor in the business of sport and recreation, Eric has been involved in high level sport throughout his life and currently plays for the MRU varsity rugby team. As someone who has experienced the Canadian LTAD model in multiple sports, Eric hopes to learn more about LTAD, and use some of his own experiences to help build Botswana’s LTAD model.

“The SportWORKS program is a significant and important highlight to our program”, noted David Legg, Professor and coordinator in the Department of Health and Physical Education at MRU. “The students certainly benefit directly from the opportunity to learn abroad and make important contributions to sport but so too do the faculty and peers who help prepare the selected candidate and then learn from them when they return.” 

The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is financially supported by the Rideau Hall Foundation and delivered in partnership with Universities Canada. QES allows youth to develop a global outlook, empathy, and understanding – all of which are essential for navigating the complexities of today’s world. CSC is currently working with MRU to identify students who will be supported by QES to work as Canadian SportWORKS Officers at various locations in Africa and the Caribbean.

"CSC is thrilled to be able to resume its ground breaking sport for development work internationally,” said Richard Powers, CSC President. “In delivering positive social impact through sport, our SportWORKS projects will continue to use sport to impact lives and transform communities around the world. We thank the QES for their support as well as MRU for their collaboration and wish Eric the best of success as he sets off to Botswana for his work with the Botswana National Olympic Committee and a number of sport organizations.”

CSC is proud to have been one of the world’s pioneers of international sport for development and to have been working in this field now for three decades

This article was originally published on the CSC website.