Norwegian Sports Aid: Exploring the Norwegian ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ Discourse

This article focuses on Norwegian ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ (SDP) aid to the Global South and how it works within the Norwegian development aid system. The analysis shows that the two dominant strategies of Norwegian NGOs concerned with SDP can be viewed from two different standpoints. The first considers NGOs’ role to be that of a service provider of sport and Norwegian official development aid objectives. The second maintains that a more transformative role is needed by addressing structural causes of inequality of the provision of sport in poor communities. It is argued that this duality in the role of NGOs in Norwegian SDP reflects distinctive national characteristics shaped by complex domestic processes and traditions that have formed the different NGO's conceptual understanding of SDP. This stands in contrast to the mainstream literature that has typically studied Northern NGOs concerned with SDP and their strategies as part of an international social movement. The article calls for a research agenda that seeks to understand SDP NGO's policy models and strategies in the context of distinct national characteristics and traditions in individual donor countries in the Global North.