Non-governmental organizations (so-called NGOs) have sought to enshrine progressive and ethical principles, protocols, and practices into governance arrangements for sport events. Evidence on whether, and how, they influence awarding bodies and events for the better, however, is scarce. The goal of the study entitled „The role of advocacy organisations for ethical mega sport events“, published in Sport Management Review, authored by Professors David McGillivray, Jörg Königstorfer, Jason N. Bocarro & Michael B. Edwards, is to explore how advocacy organizations seek to inform, influence and secure change towards the production of ethical events.
Background and objectives of the study
While there has been progress in drawing sport-awarding bodies and host governments into acknowledging the importance of protecting and promoting human rights, there has been little research exploring how progress has been achieved and what role advocacy organizations (e.g. NGOs, charities and civil society organizations) play. The two research questions guiding the study are: What role human rights advocacy organizations play at different stages of the event lifecycle? What is the nature of relationships between advocacy organizations and event-awarding bodies to ensure that human rights are effectively embedded into decision-making processes?
Design and results
The authors conducted interviews with representatives from three advocacy organizations campaigning for human rights, two event-awarding bodies and two intermediary organizations. A thematic analysis revealed four central themes: accepting responsibility for human rights; considering events as human-rights leveraging opportunity; facilitating within-coalition balance and independence of advocacy organizations; and implementing good governance and structural change. The research suggests that event managers should take a proactive approach to define and implement ethical, human rights-based agendas. The findings contribute to the understanding of advocacy organizations within the sport event context by identifying relevant roles and relationships (including success factors and burdens on human rights). Furthermore, the findings highlight differences in the roles, stakeholder relations and effectiveness of advocacy organizations between different stages of mega sport events.
Implications
The findings suggest the need for: (1) binding agreements to adhere to the UN Guiding Principles; (2) a proactive engagement that is future- and outcome-directed; (3) keeping well-balanced and reciprocal relationships between event stakeholders and advocacy organizations; (4) implementation of good governance principles and practices; and (5) installment of monitoring tools to ensure that changes are assessed and measured over time, including arrangements for remedy. To manage such collaborative approaches, the most appropriate advocacy organizations must be identified. Collaborative actions (mission, strategy, implementation, monitoring) must be agreed upon and strengthened over time in order to increase the likelihood of ethical outcomes and to overcome common barriers to collaboration. If ethical mega sport events are to become more than an idealized future ambition, it is imperative that advocacy organizations, awarding bodies and host organizers accelerate the progress made in recent years and work collaboratively to respect, protect and promote human rights.
Contact
Department of Sport and Health Management
Prof. Dr. Jörg Königstorfer
Uptown München Campus D
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 München
Tel. +49.89.289.24558
Fax +49.89.289.24642
www.sg.tum.de/mgt