Volume 6, Issue 10, August 2018 71 Journal of Sport for Development Original Research U.S. sport diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: A programme evaluation Robert E. Baker1, Pamela H. Baker2, Christopher Atwater1, Craig Esherick1 1 George Mason University, Sport Recreation and Tourism, USA 2 George Mason University, Special Education, USA Corresponding author email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT power to change the world.” He went on to acknowledge sport’s “power to inspire,” and to “unite people.” He The focus of this study is a specific SDP programme, further noted that sports “create hope,” and “decrease entitled Sports Visitors, executed in partnership between barriers.” 5 (para. 1) Right to Play International6 (p. 3) George Mason University and the U.S. Department of recognized that, “…the international use of sport, physical State. The purpose of this programme evaluation was to activity and play to attain specific development and peace examine a subset of Latin American and Caribbean groups objectives…” is an effective strategy. to ascertain the immediate, short-term impact of an intervention programme on the attitudes of participants Sport Diplomacy, as a component of Sport for relative to programme objectives. Nine groups comprised Development and Peace (SDP), can enhance peace- of 150 sport visitors participated in this investigation over a building and development efforts; and these diplomatic five year period. After the data were cleaned, 143 valid initiatives have become not only more prevalent over the responses remained for analysis. The findings are based past decade, but also more closely investigated. 1, 7, 8, 9,10 upon descriptive and effect size outcomes of quantitative Giulianotti 8 identified four categories of SDP policy: a) survey data supplemented by qualitative comments neo-liberal social policies in the form of commercial provided by participants.