'Sport for All' in New Settings
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Solveig Straume ‘Sport for all’ in new settings A study of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports’ Sport for All projects in Tanzania in the 1980s and Zimbabwe in the 1990 DISSERTATION FROM THE NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF SPORT SCIENCES • 2013 ISBN nr 978-82-502-0494-2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without a scholarship from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NIH), and I am very grateful for being given the opportunity and the privilege to conduct a study like this. However fun and inspiring it has been though, it is good to acknowledge that a long journey of my doctoral work has finally come to an end. In that respect many people deserve thanks for helping me on the way. First of all, I would like to thank Matti Goksøyr at NIH who has been my supervisor for many years now. Matti's enjoyable lectures were one of the main reasons why I chose sports history as a subject area for my master project where he also was my supervisor. Matti has challenged me to think. He has rarely given me "the answer", but shown that he believes in my abilities to find them, which I have (although frustrated at times) appreciated greatly. Additionally, Matti sees the value of a good cup of coffee and talking about real things. Thanks for that! I also want to thank my co-advisor Sunniva Engh, who is the development history expert, and has contributed with perspectives and parallels that I would not have seen as easily on my own. I am indebted to my informants in Tanzania and Zimbabwe as well as the ones at home. Thank you for your generous time, for sharing your stories with me, for making me feel welcome in your communities, offices and homes. My study would never have turned out the same if it hadn't been for you. A special thanks to Cyprian Maro for arranging so much for me during my second stay in Dar es Salaam. Living in Tabata Mawensi surely added to my Dar experience. During my period at NIH, I was part of the Department of Cultural and Social Studies (SKS). My colleagues there, involved in a variety of disciplines have been a great inspiration for me in the process of writing this dissertation. SKS's research seminars were particularly rewarding for me as life as the only PhD-student in sport history could be a bit lonesome at times. Particularly I would like to thank Kari Steen-Johnsen (now at the Institute for Social Research) for kick-starting me and co-writing Paper II with me. Also, I want to thank Britt Vold and the current head of SKS, Dag Vidar Hanstad, for organising practical things for me in the end of my time at NIH, and for financial support from SKS for the research project which forms the basis of my Paper IV. Bjørn Omar Evju and the Office of International Development Assistance in NIF deserve special thanks. First, for giving me full access to the NIF archives, second, for financially supporting the research project forming the last part of the study, third, for assisting us in Zimbabwe. Thanks also Bjørn Omar for generously sharing knowledge, thoughts and information about the NIF projects that you have been part of the last couple of decades. During the last couple of years, and specifically in the Zimbabwean case, I have been lucky to work closely with Anders Hasselgård, himself a PhD student at NIH working with issues within the area of Sport for Development and Peace. Thank you Anders for excellent i cooperation, I hope we'll continue sparing on this area which we know holds a lot of potential. Luckily, my supervisor Matti has been eager to provide for regular encounters between sports historians in the NIH system. The history group, consisting of Espen Andersen, Frode Fretland, Anders Hasselgård, Gaute Heyerdal, Finn Olstad, and Oskar Solenes, deserves thanks for inspiring and challenging academic feedback, not so inspiring, but of course challenging enough, quiz' on football and ice skating results, as well as encouragement in the form of 'You'll get there!' and 'We've all been there!' Thanks! Fellow current and former PhD students at NIH deserve a thousand thanks. (Unfortunately I've been there so long that I've 'outlived' several sets of students…) In particular thanks to the ones at SKS: Jens, Trygve, Gaute, Per Øystein, Anders, Thor Christian, Prisca, Shiho and Annika. Also the 'regulars' at the 3'rd floor should be mentioned: Elsa, Hilde, Per, Ingunn, Marthe, Tynke and all the rest of you: Thanks for a good amount of fruitful discussions as well as nonsense that have made my academic life enjoyable. A number of people deserve thanks for practical assistance during the process: the Royal Norwegian Embassies in Dar es Salaam and Harare for opening their archives, the staff at the archives in Norad for granting me access and assisting me in retrieving documentation, staff at the NIH library, at the NIH printing office and at the printing office at Molde University College. During my period as a PhD student my feet has been firmly planted in two different sport practices: the theoretical one through my studies, and the practical one, through playing volleyball. Playing volleyball almost every day and most weekends during the season may not be the best strategy for PhD progression. However, being involved in an arena far from academic measurements has been extremely rewarding for me. Thanks to my team mates for great and memorable times! A new chapter has started for me in Molde and at Molde University College. I would like to thank my new colleagues there for support in the last part of writing my dissertation. I look forward to continue my academic journey at HiMolde! Finally, I want to thank my family. First my parents for always being there for me, for giving me freedom in childhood and for always supporting and believing in me. My mom ones said to me that she thought it was probably sad for me that they weren't more academic… I'm so grateful you're not! Thanks to my siblings and their families and to my in-laws for always being there for us and for reminding me of what really matters. For what really matters is here and now. To the two most important people in my life: my husband Ole Martin; thanks for your patience, for supporting me, for building our house and for always prioritising us; our beautiful daughter Oline; thanks for the sunshine you bring into our life every day. I love you both to bits! Molde, 14 June 2013 Solveig Straume ii ABSTRACT This study is an examination of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports’ (NIF) Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) engagement in Tanzania and Zimbabwe from its inception in the early 1980s until 2000. The main research question is: How can the Norwegian Confederation of Sports’ involvement in SDP from the early 1980s to 2000 be understood? Through two different cases, Tanzania and Zimbabwe respectively, I show how NIF has argued for its SDP engagement, through analysing the formal discourses of the projects The dissertation consists of four papers. Paper I investigates the underlying motivation for NIF to become involved in SDP in the early 1980s. Through the empirical data several motives for involving in SDP were identified. The protagonists argued that NIF was in a forward position in sports compared to the situation in the developing world and therefore had something to offer. They also emphasised that such an initiative would contribute to sports by showing the positive sides of sports rather than the negative aspects that were often highlighted. Other dominating arguments included the anticipated potential for societal development inherent in SDP, and the building of a welfare state with a special emphasis on health benefits. The main reason that NIF was able to implement Sport for All seems, however, to have been the current changes in Norwegian development aid strategies focussed on neo-liberalism that made funds available for private organisations with development projects. Further, public aid priorities were more or less fixed, and thus were required to be met by the new aid actors. This was reflected in the public documents: the rhetoric used in the SDP discussions was clearly in line with the development aid jargon at the time. Hence, also an SDP project could see the light of day. Paper II discusses the donor–recipient relationship in an SDP context, and identifies potential dilemmas occurring when aiming to give aid on the recipient’s terms which was stated to be one objective of the project in Tanzania. It was pointed out that a common understanding of the role of the aid actors is necessary in donor–recipient relationships which aim to be on the terms of the recipient, and showed that the uncertainty of the participant’s role essentially affected the outcome of the Sport for All project in Tanzania. Through two different examples it was demonstrated that as an aid donor, NIF’s role varied slightly. However, on a general basis, NIF was clearly in control of the Tanzanian project throughout its various phases. There was support for this through interviews with Tanzanians where Sport for All was perceived as a Norwegian project in Tanzania rather than as a project managed by the Tanzanians themselves. Thus, it was argued that a contradiction between the discourse of equality and the actual practice was evident. It was further demonstrated that donor–recipient relationships are power relationships which are complex and unclear to the involved parties, and shown that NIF’s role was shaped through a web of power relationships.