The essay urges a coordinated global effort to turn sporting success into sustainable impact through leadership, funding, and authentic community engagement.Photo from youth charter
The Youth Charter, an international charity dedicated to social justice through sport, art, culture, and digital engagement, has issued a powerful new call to action through its Founder and Chair, Geoff Thompson.
In his latest leadership essay, “Sport for Development and Peace: A Live Aid of Hope and Opportunity,” Thompson challenges the global community to move beyond symbolic gestures and invest meaningfully in the lives of young people facing disadvantage, disaffection, and despair.
Reflecting on the legacy of Live Aid and drawing from over three decades of experience in sport for development, the essay urges a coordinated global effort to turn sporting success into sustainable impact through leadership, funding, and authentic community engagement.
Thompson writes that the world must now act with urgency and unity, much like it did during Live Aid, but this time in support of youth development and peacebuilding through sport.
“We must go from taking a knee to taking a stand,”
“There has never been a greater time for the Sport for Development and Peace movement to declare itself as champions of hope and opportunity.”
This is not just a rhetorical appeal. The Youth Charter is specifically calling for the creation of a Global Sport for Development and Peace Fund, designed to be transparently managed and impact-led.
Such a fund would deliver meaningful social, cultural, and economic change, particularly in communities facing systemic inequality and limited access to opportunity.
Thompson argues that the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement must be led by authentic leaders and institutions working directly with communities, not just by officials and organisations that operate from afar.
The call is clear: those closest to the challenges must also be central to the solutions.
The essay emphasises that youth should not be seen merely as beneficiaries of international development, but as co-creators of change individuals with agency, vision, and leadership potential.
To bring this vision to life, the Youth Charter has also published a companion feature titled “Word From The Streets,” available on its website.
This grassroots-focused piece showcases powerful testimonies from young voices in cities such as Manchester, Johannesburg, and London, sharing how sport and art have reshaped their lives.
These stories offer a compelling reminder that local action, when supported and sustained, can drive global progress.
The voices captured in the feature highlight the very real social issues that young people confront: daily poverty, crime, discrimination, and hopelessness.
Yet they also speak to the transformative potential of accessible and well-supported community programs.
When young people have access to structured sport and creative expression, they gain more than skills—they gain identity, belonging, and purpose.
This aligns with broader global efforts to accelerate progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
By addressing education, health, gender equality, and social inclusion through sport, organisations like the Youth Charter believe the world can bridge the growing gaps in opportunity and justice.
“We are facing a humanitarian emergency not just in Gaza and Sudan, but in the streets of our cities,” Thompson writes.
“This is a defining moment for sport. Will we use it to inspire, or will we remain part of the performance? Now is the time for action, not optics.”
The Youth Charter’s call to action is as much about policy and funding as it is about mindset.
It challenges leaders, donors, and the international development community to rethink the role of sport, not as a symbolic stage, but as a strategic tool for peace, equality, and resilience.
In this pivotal moment, sport has the power not just to entertain, but to transform lives. What remains is the will to act.
About Youth Charter:
The Youth Charter is a UK-registered charity and UN-accredited non-governmental organisation.
Launched in 1993 as part of the Manchester 2000 Olympic Bid and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the Youth Charter has campaigned and promoted the role and value of sport, art, culture, and digital technology in the lives of disaffected young people from disadvantaged communities nationally and internationally.
The Youth Charter has a proven track record in the creation and delivery of social and human development programmes with the overall aim of providing young people with an opportunity to develop in life.
