University of the Western Cape Gets First UNESCO Chair in Sport in Africa
Launched in 1992 by the United Nations, the UNESCO Chair programme involves more than 850 institutions in 117 countries to promote international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work. The programme has enabled strategic partnerships between organisations throughout the world.
Prof Marion Keim, the new UNESCO Chair in Sport,
Development, Peace and Olympic Education
“This is the first ever UNESCO Chair in Sports in Africa, and for it to be hosted by UWC in South Africa is very important. There is something special about the country and its passion and history of using sport in a very unique way,” said Prof Keim. She is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and certified in Mediation and Sports Law.
The UNESCO Chair is aimed at developing a continental research hub, engaging African researchers and capacitating emerging researchers to enhance international collaboration with key role players in the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) field. It will focus on policy dialogue, research exchanges on case studies involving women and girls in sport. Furthermore, it will promote values-based education through sport.
Prof Keim, who heads the Interdisciplinary Centre for Sport Sciences and Development at UWC, has more than three decades of experience in sport, peace, transformation and development in the non-profit sector and academia. Her association with UWC dates back to 1995, when she became the first sports development officer and lecturer at the University.
She served under democratic South Africa’s first Sports Minister, Steve Tshwete, on Women and Sport South Africa (WASSA), as an advisor on the Minister’s Eminent Persons Group (2012-2023), on SASCOC’s Education Commission and has been a member of the Education Commission of the International Olympic Committee since 2014. Most recently, she was elected Secretary-General of the Association of African Pierre de Coubertin Committees based in Cameroon.
Prof Keim has lectured and researched in the areas of sport and social transformation, community and youth development, multiculturalism, conflict transformation and peace-building in Southern Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the USA.
The Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) is already collaborating with the UNESCO Chair on three significant projects, working towards developing social integration within sport and society, which will establish strong ties with the University of West Indies, particularly regarding Olympic education.
The three projects are the Sport Policy Mapping Research programme, the value of storytelling of Olympians from the CANOC region, and the establishment of a CANOC Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning strategy and system.
READ MORE ABOUT THE 2023 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
Prof Keim said her work over the years was inspired by her family, her students, her friends and several global icons, including Nelson Mandela and former UWC Chancellor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“With this UNESCO Chair position based at UWC, I would like to honour Archbishop Tutu. He was our Chancellor for more than 18 years, was passionate about sport and an inspiration at UWC and globally. He had a big impact on my personal and professional life,” she said.
“I remember even when it was storming, he came to us on the field with his black umbrella to support our youth and our Kicking for Peace sports programme. The likes of him, former rector Prof Brian O’Connell and Dr Ingrid Miller, who were exceptional leaders at UWC with a valued-based approach, played a crucial role in my 28 years at UWC.”
Prof Keim said she had been fortunate to witness unique historical events on different continents that created hope and showed that transformation was possible, including the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany in 1989 and the release of Nelson Mandela in Cape Town in 1990.
Her appointment as UNESCO Chair meant a lot to her and her community of like-minded individuals.
She said: “The contribution one is able to make to develop a better, more peaceful and humane world, no matter where one is from, unites us all. Sport, for me, is a school of life. When you are in sport, you belong to a global family. Never underestimate the human spirit, the power of dreams and the power of sport.”