DOHA: The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and its partners convened a series of debates under the title of “Sport as a vehicle to develop soft skills for the labor market – a Mediterranean perspective from and for the MENA Region” and “Sport as a vehicle to develop cross-cutting skills for the labor market” with a focus on Euro-Mediterranean countries and Southern Europe.
Representatives from the Olympic Movement, international organizations, academia, and civil society respectively from the two shores of the Mediterranean Basin, met in Milan, in the context of the “Sport4Impact International Conference”, organized by the International Institute of Sports Society Studies (IIISSS) and attended by more than 80 participants across nations, including but not limited to Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia, as well as
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, North Macedonia, Slovenia Albania and Serbia.
The event represented the completion of three years of work conducted by the ICSS jointly with Instituto Universitario de Lisboa – leader of the project, the International Olympic Truce Centre, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Coaching Portugal, HASK Mladost, Universitat de les Illes Balears, and Cyprus Sports Organisation.
The project has been particularly effective in terms of exploring what skills can be promoted through sport and are required for the labour market, developing a training programme to enhance the capacity of sport coaches to develop employability skills in their athletes, and implementing pilot actions to raise youth’s awareness on such matters.
