Sports and Development

Sport and development, bike, Curitiba, Brazil, social link — © Zuleika de Souza / AFD

Our commitment

A driver of inclusion and social cohesion, sport contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in education, health, gender equality, peace, and social cohesion. Driven by a rapidly growing youth population, sport is also a major global economic sector, accounting for nearly 2% of global GDP and growing faster than the global economy. In light of these trends, AFD Group has positioned sport as a driver of solidarity-driven investment and sustainable impact, with a primary focus on young people in Africa.

Sport: an accelerator of sustainable development

Our approach

Sport is widely recognized for its benefits in personal development, including self-confidence and empowerment, as well as for promoting universal values such as respect, sharing, and solidarity. It is also a powerful tool for social cohesion, integration, and inclusion, helping advance gender equality and broaden opportunities for all.

Building on this conviction, AFD Group has implemented a Sport and Development strategy since 2019, positioning sport as a core pillar of its work in support of young people, inequality reduction, and social cohesion. In line with the commitments made in Ouagadougou in 2017 and at the New Africa-France Summit in 2021, AFD Group seeks to embed sport sustainably at the heart of French and international action. Through a “sport for all” approach – particularly targeting young people, women, and girls – AFD Group promotes sport as a driver of sustainable development by supporting projects that expand access to sport and strengthen education and employment opportunities.

This momentum is part of an exceptionally active international sports agenda, following the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – the first Games promoted as “open to all, more responsible, more sustainable, more united, and more inclusive” – and ahead of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event to be held on the African continent. Hosting the Games created a unique opportunity to align the energy of the event with the Sustainable Development Goals. In July 2024, on the eve of the Games, the first Sport for Sustainable Development Summit brought together more than 500 participants, including 55 heads of state, leaders of international organizations, public development banks, sports stakeholders, and civil society representatives. The summit marked a major step forward, with 60 states endorsing the Paris Agreement for Sport and Sustainable Development and reaffirming the role of sport as a lever for social transformation.

Against this backdrop, AFD Group, alongside public development banks, is continuing its effort to mobilize €500 million for the sport and development sector by 2030.

Sport: a driver of sustainable development and social cohesion

AFD finances the construction and rehabilitation of community sports infrastructure to expand access to sports for all, particularly for underserved populations. By creating sports facilities in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods and schools, these projects become drivers of social inclusion, education, and youth empowerment.

For example, as part of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, AFD provided an €80 million loan to the Senegalese government. The project aims both to rehabilitate sports infrastructure and to address the long-term sustainability and legacy of the event through training and capacity building for Senegalese sports stakeholders.

According to the OECD, the sports sector currently accounts for around 2% of global GDP, generating significant economic activity and employment. With annual growth estimated at 5.9%, the sector is expanding faster than the global economy. However, sports stakeholders continue to face several challenges, particularly limited access to training.

In response, AFD supports the professionalization of the sports sector and helps stakeholders implement inclusive sports practices while strengthening project management and governance capacities. One example is the Pass’Sport program, implemented and developed by AFD Campus, Sport Impact, Trace Academia, and the Foundation of Paris Nanterre University. Sharing sports expertise between French and local stakeholders is central to this approach, helping build a sustainable and dynamic sports ecosystem.

As part of its partnership with Paris 2024, AFD financed an incubation program for athlete entrepreneurs, supporting 83 athletes in developing entrepreneurial projects with strong social and environmental impact in France and Africa. In 2022, AFD also signed a partnership agreement with Rugby Africa to strengthen the capacities of African rugby federations in nine countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Senegal, Togo, and Tunisia – with support from the French Rugby Federation (FFR).

AFD supports the design and implementation of public policies that promote sports participation and school sports programs.

Through €7 million in financing, AFD is supporting the Tunisian government in strengthening sports participation in schools and improving learning outcomes through sport. This pilot project includes the creation of Olympic clubs in around 100 schools to help develop students’ athletic, educational, and personal skills. It also includes the renovation of the Pierre de Coubertin sports high school, which trains future high-level athletes, with the aim of making it a benchmark institution for school sports policy. The project fully integrates gender equality, inclusion – particularly for persons with disabilities – and child protection considerations.

Sport contributes to building more sustainable and resilient societies. It is recognized in the United Nations 2030 Agenda and acknowledged by both academic research and the international community for its capacity to drive social innovation.

In this context, after financing more than 120 microprojects between 2019 and 2024, AFD now aims to support the scaling up of initiatives led by civil society organizations and entrepreneurs developing social innovation through sport. In partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), AFD has launched two support programs for civil society projects, each financed at €2 million.

The first program, SESLA (Sport for Education and Employability in Africa), aims to support more than 25 civil society organizations across 14 African countries that use sport as a lever for education and youth employability, particularly for young women and girls.

The second program focuses on preventing juvenile delinquency through sport in four Southeast Asian countries, with the aim of reducing violence and crime while promoting the values of peace and social cohesion. The initiative supports around 10 mid-sized civil society organizations working with particularly vulnerable young people.

AFD has created a new space for mobilization and partnerships by building collaborations with internationally recognized sports organizations – including FIFA, the NBA, the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Paris 2024, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and HAVOBA – as well as with French sports federations and athletes committed to development initiatives, with 105 athletes supported to date. These partnerships aim to promote a shared vision of “sport and development” by bringing more sport into development efforts, and more development goals into sport.

AFD also contributed to the creation of the Sport en Commun collaborative platform, which connects funding providers and project leaders and now brings together 3,000 registered organizations across 52 countries.

Finally, through the Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), AFD helped launch the “Sustainable Development Through Sport” coalition, which encourages public development banks worldwide to work together to increase investment in the sector..