#SportDiplomacyAcademy

Sport Diplomacy Academy SDA project is legacy of recent First Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018 and is focused on Western Balkans lot as a logical follow up of all implemented #EU2018BG activities: prioritizing the European perspective and connectivity of the Western Balkans, referring to the Sofia Declaration and Sofia Priority Agenda. #SportDiplomacyAcademy project ensure the educational mobility of coaches and other staff of sport organisations (incl. volunteers) linked to professional and grassroots sport. The 4 modules of mobility, held in each one of the partners countries with the same group of participants is planned to improve their competences as well as their qualifications and acquire new skills through learning mobility and spending a period of time in a foreign country (in and outside of the EU). Learning mobility is an investment in human capital and a contribution to the capacity building of sport organisations with clear focus on building a network of well-trained sport diplomats.

The innovative format ensures that after the project lifetime each of the involved countries will possess with at least 20 well trained “diplomats in sport suits” with great skills and knowledge in the field of sport diplomacy (policy dialogue and international relationship, campaign creation, successful communication (verbal & non-verbal), public speaking, media relationships, protocol and etiquette, EU foreign policy and values). The network of 80 devoted sport experts will focus on supporting and developing the European integration of Western Balkans in the field of sport and will be quality provider of EU values in their local environment.

Four partner organizations are involved in the project – Bulgarian sports development association – coordinator and initiator of the Academy, Rijeka Sports Association, Croatia, the Italian sports organization "L’Orma" and BRAVO – an NGO from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

#SportDiplomacyAcademy main outputs: EU network of sport diplomats for WB’s sport development
Project includes also the following concrete results:
• 80 “diplomats in sport suits” /20 per country/, focused on delivering EU integration in the countries of WB area;
• Local dissemination events (400 pax) - snowfall effect of the acquired skills and knowledge;
• Platform for WB sport development https://www.eusportdiplomacy.info/- practical tool for resources and EU sport values with accent on Sport diplomacy and GoodGovernanceSport. Sport organizations from all over Europe are invited to join the platform and find easily their new partners in sport.

Project is co-funded by European Union – „Exchanges and mobility in sport” – EAC/S15/2018 (lot 1).

Project start date: 01/01/2019
Project duration: 24 months