An evaluation of the evolution and development of olympic solidarity 1980-2012

According to the Olympic Charter, “the aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organise assistance to National Olympic Committees, in particular those which have the greatest need”. For the last five decades funding from the sale of Broadcasting Rights for the Olympic Games, allocated to the National Olympic Committees, has been channelled through Olympic Solidarity as a means of promoting development. The aim of this research was therefore to evaluate the extent to which this redistributive claim is evidenced through an analysis of the distribution of the Olympic Solidarity funding, and an insight into the life histories of people involved in the process of allocating grant aid for Olympic Solidarity’s World Programme funding. [Continues.

Olympic engagement and the use of Olympic Solidarity programmes by Gulf Cooperation Council states

This paper seeks to address the extent to which Olympic Solidarity (OS) funding patterns are consistent with the organisation's explicit mission, namely to serve the interests of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and in particular those in greatest need. In addition, the paper reviews the extent to which Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have been able to avail themselves of such resources. While OS funding has tended at the level of the World Programme, to reflect a tendency to favour NOCs from less affluent economies, this tendency towards progressive funding has been weakening and to some extent reversed, since the mid-2000s. Funding of GCC states has tended to be well below that of other NOCs of comparable dimensions, reflecting the fact that Gulf States have not followed a ‘linear’ path to ‘modernity’ in sport. Such a linear path might be characterised as in an initial concern with growing participation, improving governance (through issues such as women's role in sport) and enhancing performance, but GCC states have instead focused on elements of a what might be characterised as a post-modern approach in the form of hosting of major events and the celebration of spectacle, and thus drawing relatively modestly on OS resources

Twenty years on the African Union’s continental diplomacy has changed

On the 20th anniversary of the Constitutive Act of the African Union entering into force, Candice Moore reflects on the diplomacy, vision and paradigm changes that brought it into being, and the differences between then and the Union today

Activity report of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC)

Executive Council Thirty-Fourth Ordinary Session 7 – 8 February 2019 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaECOSOCC is an organ of AU that was established under the provisions of articles 5 and 22 of the AU Constitutive Act. Its purpose is to serve as an advisory organ to the AU,composed of civil society organisations (CSOs). The period 2017/18 was undoubtedly full of activity for the organ. Over the period, ECOSOCC in line with its mandate was actively involved in several activities based on the executive council decisions done in 2018. This report will focus on the mainstream activities that the organ was engaged in during the period. These includes: sectoral clusters programmatic interventions; statutory meetings; participation in AU processes and programs; ECOSOCC reforms as well as the ECOSOCC relocation plan. In this report, a concise highlight of the implementation of these various aspect

Experiencing the transition from an apprenticeship to higher education

It is the intention of the UK government to enhance progression routes for apprentices to higher education. However, little research has been carried out into why former apprentices pursue higher education or the experiences of this transition. This paper seeks to redress this gap by reporting three case studies of former apprentices who had completed or were completing a higher education qualification in England. Each case study represents a different route to higher education: progressing to a full-time higher education course; pursuing a part-time route to sustain full-time employment; and undertaking a career change during the transition to higher education. The paper addresses their experiences of the apprenticeship, the decision-making to progress and the perceived outcomes of their transition so far. Analysis draws on Fuller and Unwin’s expansive–restrictive framework and conceptual lenses for understanding learning. The findings revealed that although their apprenticeships were restrictive in different ways, progression was pursued for a number of reasons involving the context in which apprenticeships were completed, the relationship to their employer, the higher education context and their understanding of learning. Experiences of boundary crossing were particularly associated with more complex descriptions of personal transformation and learning as becoming

Policy Brief Report on the Status of Regional Integration in Africa

First Mid-Year Coordination Meeting 8 July 2019 Niamey, NigerThis report provides a comprehensive review of the status of integration and sets out innovative policies for accelerating progress in Africa

Addis Ababa Declaration on Science Technology and Scientific Research for Development

Development of the Continen

Interim report on alternative sources of financing the African Union

Executive Council Eighth Ordinary Session 16 – 21 January 2006 Khartoum, Suda