From EduSport (Zambia) to EduMove(UK): In search of a new Sport for Development conversation

As enthusiasm of the international SDP movement starts to die down, many are starting to questions whether the SDP projects have delivered development or underdevelopment in the intended target groups particularly in the so called ‘global south’ (Mwaanga and Adeosun, 2017). On the African side, there is a resounding fear that SDP will end up as another failed development intervention, a label which has become synonymous with international development aid.
Indeed, contemporary SDP scholars (e.g., Hayhurst, 2009; Spaaij, 2012; Giulianotti, 2004; Banda and Mwaanga, 2014) are starting to critique the capacity and credibility of the SDP projects claims to deliver development outcomes. This paper takes this effort further by drawing on lessons from my 20 years multiple engagement in SDP as an activist, practitioner, innovator and academic. To help uncover realistic ways to alter the trajectory of the international SDP project, the paper identifies and critically examines the issues and voices constructing the international SDP conversation and narrative. The analysis will centralise the role of ideology in the construction of aid dependency in SDP. Using ideological critique and reflections from the author's involvement in SDP, the paper will propose progressive recommendations of shift the narrative from aid to social innovation.