Building bridges in the Mediterranean: circular cooperation and sport for development and peace for refugees in Italy

Norrito, Alessio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7638-0773, La Cara, Roberta, Sella, Agostino, Giulianotti, Richard and Mason, Carolynne (2024) Building bridges in the Mediterranean: circular cooperation and sport for development and peace for refugees in Italy. Journal of Sport for Development, 12 (1). pp. 1-11. ISSN 2330-0574

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Abstract

This paper examines the utility of circular cooperation for the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) field. Circular cooperation is a modus operandi used to address the Central Mediterranean refugee crises. This methodology is currently employed between Sicily, The Gambia, Senegal, and Mali. It relies on rehabilitating asylum-seekers crossing the Mediterranean, to then provide training towards a return to their country of origin. Returnees then establish start-ups that are functional in addressing the needs of their community of origin, while keeping a cyclical supportive partnership with their country of departure. In doing so, returning migrants can tap into the resources of the host country while also autonomously leading developmental efforts in their original community, by transferring their acquired skills from the country of relocation. Circular cooperation is a vehicle for SDP to cooperate with other developmental fields, ensure the autonomy of initiatives and meaningfully address the necessities of user groups. The adoption of circular cooperation in SDP directly safeguards and improves the livelihood of forcibly migrating populations. Moreover, the adoption of a circular cooperation methodology could challenge neocolonial tendencies in SDP.