In Their Own Voice

Exploring Capacity Building in International Sport for Development Charities

This project explores how Sport for Development (SfD) organisations define and enact capacity building in their own terms. Using qualitative methods, it aims to uncover context-specific strategies, barriers and enablers, generating insights to inform inclusive, sustainable practices across the global SfD sector.

SfD organisations are widely recognised for their role in addressing social inequalities, fostering inclusion and supporting community-led development (Giulianotti, 2011; Spaaij, 2013). Operating at the intersection of sport, civil society and development, these organisations often navigate complex and resource-constrained environments while responding to shifting donor priorities, community needs and systemic disadvantage. Existing research and capacity-building initiatives often reflect donor-driven perspectives and high-resource contexts, overlooking these realities. This project addresses that gap by exploring how organisations define and build capacity in their own terms, enabling them to strengthen impact for the communities they serve.

This research centres organisational voices through innovative methods such as WhatsApp audio voicenotes and reflexive interviews. By grounding data collection in lived experiences across diverse contexts, it offers a unique, bottom-up perspective that challenges conventional frameworks and informs more inclusive capacity-building understanding.

Through a two-phase, qualitative design, the study will engage 15 international SfD organisations using Whatsapp voicenotes and interviews to explore capacity needs, strategies and barriers. Findings will hope to inform funders, practitioners and policymakers, shaping context-sensitive support and contributing to theory and practice.