Partnering for the Planet

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant. “Partnering for the Planet: Co-Creating Gender-Just Climate Solutions through Sport for Development and Peace.” (Co-Is: Brian Wilson, University of British Columbia; Brad Millington, Brock University; Cathy van Ingen, Brock University; Mitchell McSweeney, University of Minnesota; Nadine Schuurman, Simon Fraser University; Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, University of British Columbia) (2025 – 2028)

The overall goal of this Partnership Development Grant is to bring together a team of experts to explore the intersection of sport, global development, physical culture and feminist climate justice in three test sites. We seek to develop gender-just solutions to the climate crisis by: 1) enhancing existing partner activities and programs for sport for development and peace (SDP); and 2) partnering with new UN agencies, new international organizations and York research centres. SDP programs in the global South have become a popular way of addressing gender inequities and climate change. Scholarship to date has largely overlooked the gendered dimensions of climate change and the potential for the SDP sector to contribute to achieving global climate change goals. Our main research question is: Can sport, and SDP programs be developed and expanded to address intersecting inequities related to gender and climate injustice? Through a new partnership involving community-based organizations, UN agencies, and academic research centers, the project will gather data in three distinct contexts: Uganda, Canada and Nicaragua. In each site, researchers will work closely with local community advisory boards to ensure the design and data collection are context-specific and community-driven. This research is timely. There is increasing recognition that women and girls (including cis and trans) are facing higher risks of violence and are disproportionately impacted by climate change, resulting in livelihood disruptions in the global South. Sport is positioned by the United Nations and other agencies as a strategic tool for addressing social justice issues, calling for sport to play a central role in climate action and gender equality. There is an urgent need for integrated intersectoral approaches that connect climate justice, gender equity, and SDP to respond to these challenges. Such issues have recently been taken up by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) delivering SDP programs that attempt to address both SGBV and climate injustice. This partner development project seeks to assess the contributions of such programs in creating innovative, community-driven strategies for tackling gender and environmental inequalities and as a foundation for a global partnership among similar organizations and scholars.

The specific objectives of this study are: 1) To understand what forms of climate activism and advocacy strategies in, around and through SDP exist in the sport/global development/physical culture/feminist climate justice nexus; and to examine how this nexus holds the potential to address the structural inequities that shape community health and climate change. 2) To assess the global scope of SDP climate action programs and how such programs (cl)aim to address the intertwined global crises of climate injustice, gender inequality, and increasing rates of SGBV. 3) To explore the activities and impacts the SDP programs of community partners have on climate justice, gender inequality, and SGBV in Canada, Nicaragua and Uganda. 4) To identify effective tools and resources, including decolonial feminist digital participatory action research (DPAR) methods, to gain new insights and identify key policy impacts.

This study is anchored in decolonial feminist climate justice approaches informed by feminist physical cultural studies, and ignited by transcalar advocacy strategies. These perspectives help illuminate the complex intersections of gender, sport, and climate justice and the colonial legacies and power relations that shape the experiences of women and girls in SDP programs. The project will employ feminist participatory methodologies, including photovoice, digital storytelling, and GIS-enabled digital mapping, to privilege local voices and center lived experiences of women and girls as they navigate these intersecting challenges. This research will contribute to filling critical gaps in understanding how sport can be used as a platform for advancing feminist climate justice. By synthesizing grassroots perspectives in three test sites the project will produce innovative resources – including toolkits and policy briefs that can inform future SDP policy and practice. Ultimately, this study aims to critically assess how, if at all, SDP may be a crucial platform for addressing the dual challenges of SGBV and climate injustice. Overall, we aim to provide new pathways for inclusive, community-driven, and intersectional strategies that can be adapted across diverse global contexts.