Humanity Sports Club
Global Digital Community
The Humanity Sports Club global digital community is a joint initiative between Sport at the Service of Humanity (SSH) and Save the Dream to provide local faith and sport communities with a global digital resource and knowledge sharing platform.
Humanity Sports Club (initially called the Global Digital Community) builds on Pope Francis’ call to leverage the power of faith and sport to serve humanity. Conceptualized from the outset as an inter-faith approach, Humanity Sports Club global digital community aims to support and empower local faith communities to use sport as a tool for the education of youth, to foster social inclusion, and promote healthy active lifestyles.
The initiative was launched through a virtual kick-off meeting on December 7, 2021, where experts from the world of sport, faith, business, international organizations and NGOs participated in a wide-ranging mapping process that resulted in directional recommendations to lay the groundwork for the Humanity Sports Club global digital community.
Following the virtual kick-off meeting, a high-level meeting was held in Vatican City on December 14th involving a select group of supporters and philanthropists who reviewed the initial recommendations from the mapping process and discussed the required resources for the realization of the initial objectives of the joint initiative.
The high-level meeting culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Sport at the Service of Humanity and Save the Dream on December 14, 2021, formally launching the operations of the Humanity Sport Club global digital community with the support of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
“The Humanity Sports Club global digital community was conceived as a platform to support the practice of sport and the exposure to its educational and societal values, initially to benefit over 60 million children within the Catholic community. Importantly, Humanity SC’s intent is to have a multi-faith approach and the long-term vision is to include a higher number of beneficiaries through the involvement of other faith-based organizations and groups.“
Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca
Undersecretary, Pontifical Council for Culture (2014 to 2022)
“I believe that the main strength of this initiative lies in its simplicity, but at the same time, in its capacity to apply in the field the important policy frameworks developed at the international level, frameworks such as the Kazan Action Plan. It is also instrumental to put into practice Pope Francis’ call to action, when he urged all of us back in 2016 to bring a ball to the outskirts of the world, wherever these are. So, hopefully, in a few years, this ball will finally reach its destination.”
Massimiliano Montanari, CEO, Save the Dream
“As our world continues to face unprecedented challenges, Sport for Humanity reinforces its commitment to using the power of faith and sport to transform attitudes and actions – now, more than ever. This work is important and the idea of being able to provide a central, user-friendly, global digital platform where tools, templates and resources can be accessed by sport and development practitioners, from different cultures and faiths in local communities worldwide, would be an absolute game changer.”
David Eades, Chairman, Sport at the Service of Humanity Foundation
Save the Dream is the global initiative established by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), to empower youth through safe access to sport and its educational and social values.
Save the Dream serves as a global movement of organizations, people, and athletes who believe in the power of sport to build more fair and inclusive societies and are therefore committed to promoting and protecting its core values for the good of youth and future generations.
