Sportanddev Partners With Vardot to Upgrade Their Website and Maximize Community Impact

Vardot is delighted to announce a partnership with Sportanddev to build an upgraded website to better serve their community.

While Sportanddev remains the leading global online platform for actors in sport and development, there is an urgent need to upgrade their current website. This will ensure greater coordination, collaboration, and ultimately impact their platform and its diverse range of stakeholders.

The Website Upgrade is a Clear Priority

Sportanddev is a community-driven platform and the website upgrade responds to the needs of their community. In a 2020 survey, 96% of respondents felt the website should be rebuilt or upgraded. The remaining 4% suggested there need to be improvements to the look and layout of the website. Respondents also provided some clear suggestions for the new website, which Sportanddev has taken into account.

The Sportanddev Steering Board, partners of their campaign on Reshaping Sport and Development, and many others have indicated that an upgraded website is a priority in order to increase their effectiveness, and ensure greater equity, access, and inclusion in sport and development.

Given this, Sportanddev has signed a partnership with Vardot, Vardot will work with Sportanddev during 2022 to design, build, test and finally launch an upgraded Sportanddev website. This project is supported by the Swedish Postcode Foundation and partners of Sportanddev global campaign on Reshaping Sport and Development.

"Vardot is really excited to collaborate with Sportanddev, who continue to make an impact worldwide through sport and development. We believe the new platform that will be launched on Drupal 10 will open new horizons for collaboration and knowledge sharing while maximizing the digital experience for the Sportanddev community. With the new Sportanddev website, we will truly observe the full impact of our work."
–Mohammed Razem, CEO of Vardot

Sportanddev senior consultant Dr. Ben Sanders stressed the importance of this partnership and its contribution to improving the impact of the Sportanddev platform and more broadly the sector.
 

"After a rigorous selection process, we are delighted to work with Vardot to build a greatly improved Sportanddev website that better serves the needs of our diverse users and stakeholders. The upgraded website will also contribute to building a more robust and representative platform, and the sport and development sector, by increasing access and strengthening equity. For example, the ability to feature content in all six official languages of the United Nations (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese) will greatly improve the reach and effectiveness of our work, while providing an opportunity for actors from these regions to share their work and influence policy. There are also many other features that we hope will greatly support actors in sport and development.."
–Sportanddev senior consultant Dr. Ben Sanders

 

Initial work has already begun, and Sportanddev hopes to launch the upgraded website in the second half of 2022. This may be done in a phased approach and further information will be communicated in due course. Sportanddev will incorporate community feedback into this process – including insights from the community survey and from community consultations during this year.

The Rationale for an Upgraded Sportanddev

Sportanddev has also outlined the rationale behind a new or upgraded website. The creation of a new or upgraded website serves a number of objectives, including:

1. More comprehensive coverage of the role of sport in enabling development and peace, including contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other priorities. This will illustrate the value and viability of investments in sport, making the case if needed.
2. Content in all six United Nations languages – to ensure that there is a greater voice from under-represented actors and regions – and to bridge the gaps between policy and practice.
3. Improved functionality and enhanced user experience, including the ability for interactive/two-way communication and the ability to host communities of practice or forums (these could be as diverse as sport and refugees OR sport for gender equity for example).
4. Increased value for investors, sponsors, registered organizations, and individuals.
5. A more comprehensive online mapping of the relevant networks, organizations, and individuals in sport and development (filtered by outcome area/geography/sport type, etc.) so that Sportanddev has a clearer picture of who is doing what where, and where the gaps are.
6. Research and Learning Corner: A comprehensive synthesis of research (applied and academic) in sport and development (filtered by outcome area/type of research/strength of evidence etc.) and appropriate learning resources, including online learning tools. This will again allow Sportanddev to determine where research is strong and where gaps/opportunities exist.
7. Improved alignment of content and features to global and other policy frameworks – to ensure that actors are working in unison and to improve coherence and coordination.

These objectives are not exhaustive, and they may change after community consultations and other feedback. Sportanddev also recognizes that different sectors of their community will use the website in different ways and have different needs and interests.

Further, Sportanddev is continuing to raise funds to support an upgraded website and their campaign on Reshaping Sport and Development. While they have raised resources for the core build of the website, there are many other costs (e.g., management of the various language versions of the website; support with collating research and learning) that still require resourcing and partnerships

About Sport and Development 

Founded in 2003, Sport and Development is a hub for sharing knowledge, building good practice, facilitating coordination, and fostering partnerships between and within different stakeholders in Sport & Development. Learn more at https://www.sportanddev.org/en.

About Vardot

Established in 2011, based in the USA, Jordan, and Egypt. Vardot provides cutting-edge enterprise web solutions, with optimized digital experience and powerful cross-platform and open-source content management system, developed on Drupal technology.