Financing was explored further, including the Qatar Fund for Development’s (QFFD) role across most of the SDGs, using sport and education as advocacy tools, with a focus on life skills, mental health, education, and economic empowerment, particularly for women.
- Good practice: QFFD runs several programs including Zaatari refugee camp (located in Jordan), alongside programmes in Colombia and Mexico focusing on sport as a tool to promote education, demonstrating the valuable role of sport in humanitarian development and peacebuilding.
A persisting financing gap was identified as needing to be bridged, alongside the importance of integrating sport goals with other development goals. Genuine investor appetite for gender equity investment was questioned, along with prospective returns for investors.
ESG investment was discussed, along with how branding depends on the kind of investment an organisation is trying to attract.
- Good practice: Work helping the Yunus Centre in Bangladesh move toward greater financial self-sufficiency, on the basis that governments will not always deliver what people want to see, so this responsibility should not rest with government alone.
Capital exists across the African continent that could be unlocked; the financial instruments needed to channel investment are often lacking. Building the right instrument or structure allows funding to be tracked both globally and locally — illustrated by the process of investing in and eventually selling a franchise, which opened possibilities, including from external and African investors, that would not previously have seemed possible.
Feedback from group discussion covered accountability (need for checks and balances) and the use of intermediary vehicles — such as special purpose vehicles (SPVs) — to channel funding to the grassroots, including common set-up principles, scalability, and the need for a shared culture of good practice. Leveraging social outcomes for private sector investment and sustainable funding solutions are key.
- Good practice: The Yunus Sport Centre introduced the concept of social business as part of procurement and financing modalities for Paris 2024, which extended into Milan-Cortina. This form of impact-led sustainable procurement ensured outcomes that outlive the events.
Innovative financing approaches discussed included tapping into diaspora funding and public-private partnerships, alongside balancing philanthropic funding with commercialisation. Funding needs to be long-term, with an emphasis on diversifying investment sources — with an opportunity at the micro-funding level to shift the narrative from giving to investing.