Internet platforms are increasingly becoming strategic tools for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in international development to collaborate, share information, and gain legitimacy. Drawing on the literature on neoliberalism, sport for development, globalization and networking through communication technologies, this article examines the interpretations of staff working in Canadian and Swiss sport for development and peace (SDP) NGOs on the role of the Platform, while also exploring the challenges and benefits of the Platform for each NGO. Qualitative research methods were utilized, including a content analysis of documents on the Platform and the two NGO websites, along with interviews with staff from both NGOs. The findings revealed, on one hand, that staff for both NGOs were concerned about the Platform’s potential to support collaboration amongst organizations that: a) are frequently in competition with one another – a feature of NGO culture in a neoliberal political environment; and b) commonly adopt divergent approaches to SDP work. On the other hand, both NGOs acknowledged that the Platform and the UN-endorsed International Year of Sport and Physical Education were at times useful for disseminating and legitimizing SDP globally, although the potential of new media technologies has not been realized because of inequalities within and around the NGO community. Implications of the findings along with ideas for future research are discussed.
AlzoumaG (2005) Myths of digital technology in Africa: Leapfrogging development?Global Media and Communication1(3): 339–356.
2.
ArmstrongG (2004) The Lords of misrule: Football and the rights of the child in Liberia, West Africa. Sport in Society7(3): 473–502.
3.
BrinkerhoffJMSmithSCTeeganH (2007) Beyond the ‘non’: The strategic space for NGOs in development. In: BrinkerhoffJMSmithSCTeeganH (eds) NGOs and the Millennium Development Goals: Citizen Action to Reduce Poverty. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 58–77.
4.
BurnettC (2009) Engaging Sport-for-Development for social impact in the South African context. Sport in Society12(9): 1192–1205.
5.
ButcherJ (2006) The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: A critical analysis of development implications. Progress in Development Studies6(2): 146–156.
6.
CoalterF (2008) Sport-in-Development: Development for and through sport? In: NicholsonMHoyleR (eds) Sport and Social Capital. New York: Butterworth-Heinemann.
7.
CoalterF (2009) Sport-in-development: Accountability or development? In: LevermoreRBeacomA (eds) Sport and International Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
8.
CooleyARonJ (2002) The NGO scramble: Organizational insecurity and the political economy of transnational action. International Security27(1): 5–39.
9.
CornelissenS (2009) A delicate balance: Major sports events and development. In: LevermoreRBeacomA (eds) Sport and International Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
10.
CullenP (2005) Conflict and cooperation within the Platform of European social NGOs. In: BandyJSmithJ (eds) Coalitions Across Borders: Transnational Protest and the Neoliberal Order. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
11.
CumbersARoutledgePNativelC (2008) The entangled geographies of global justice networks. Progress in Human Geography32(2): 183–201.
12.
DarnellSC (2007) Playing with race: Right to Play and the production of Whiteness in ‘development through sport’. Sport in Society10(4): 560–579.
13.
DiMaggioPHargittaiERussell NeumanWRobinsonJP (2001) Social implications of the internet. Annual Review of Sociology27: 307–336.
14.
DonnellyP (2007) Sport, development and peace. Paper presented at the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO), Toronto, Canada.
15.
EbrahimA (2009) Placing the normative logics of accountability in ‘thick’ perspective. American Behavioral Scientist52(6): 885–904.
16.
EstevaGPrakeshMS (1998) Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures. London: Zed Books.
17.
GiulianottiRRobertsonR (2007) Sport and globalization: Transnational dimensions. Global Networks7(2): 107–112.
18.
HarveyJHorneJSafaiP (2009) Alterglobalization, global social movements, and the possibility of political transformation through sport. Sociology of Sport Journal26(3): 383–403.
19.
HayC (1998) The tangled webs we weave. In: MarshD (ed.) Comparing Policy Networks. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
20.
HayhurstLMC (2009) The power to shape policy: Charting Sport for Development policy discourses. International Journal of Sport Policy1(2): 203–227.
21.
HayhurstLFrisbyW (2010) Inevitable tensions: Swiss and Canadian sport for development NGO perspectives on partnerships with high performance sport. European Sport Management Quarterly10(1): 75–96.
22.
HayhurstLMacNeillMFrisbyW (forthcoming) A postcolonial feminist approach to sport, gender and development. In: HoulihanBGreenM (eds) Handbook of Sport Development. London: Routledge.
23.
HenryIMohanGYanacoplousH (2004) Networks as transnational agents of development. Third World Quarterly25: 839–855.
24.
HoulihanB (1997) Sport, Policy and Politics: A Comparative Analysis. London: Routledge.
25.
HudsonA (2001) NGOs’ transnational advocacy networks: From ‘legitimacy’ to ‘political responsibility’?Global Networks1(4): 331–352.
26.
KeckMSikkinkK (1999) Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics. International Social Science51(159): 89–101.
27.
KiddB (2008) A new social movement: Sport for development and peace. Sport in Society11(4): 370–380.
28.
LenskyjH (2002) The Best Olympics Ever? Social Impacts of Sydney 2000. Albany: SUNY.
29.
LeonardD (2009) New media and global sporting cultures: Moving beyond the clichés and binaries. Sociology of Sport Journal26(1): 1–16.
30.
LevermoreR (2009) Sport-in-International Development: Theoretical frameworks. In: LevermoreRBeacomA (eds) Sport and International Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
31.
McEwanC (2009) Postcolonialism and Development. London: Routledge.
32.
McFarlaneC (2006) Transnational development networks: Bringing development and postcolonial approaches into dialogue. The Geographical Journal172(1): 35–49.
33.
MohantyCT (2003) Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. London: Duke University Press.
34.
NickelPMEikenberryAM (2009) A critique of the discourse of marketized philanthropy. American Behavioral Scientist52(7): 974–989.
35.
PerrucciRPotterHR (1989) The collective actor in organizational analyisis. In: PerrucciRPotterHR (eds) Networks of Power: Organizational Actors at the National, Corporate and Community Levels. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
36.
RuthAHoughtonL (2009) The wiki way of learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology25(2): 135–152.
37.
SaavedraM (2009) Dilemmas and opportunities in gender and sport-in-development. In: LevermoreRBeacomA (eds) Sport and International Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
38.
SageG (1999) Justice do it! The Nike transnational advocacy network: Organization, collective actions, and outcomes. Sociology of Sport Journal16(3): 206–235.
39.
SanyalP (2006) Capacity building through partnership: Intermediary nongovernmental organizations as local and global actors. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly35(1): 66–82.
40.
SellSPrakashA (2004) Using ideas strategically: The contest between business and NGO networks in intellectual property rights. International Studies Quarterly48(1): 143–175.
41.
ShumateMDewittL (2008) The north/south divide in NGO hyperlink networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication12: 405–428.
42.
SmithJ (2008) Social Movements for Global Democracy. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
WallaceT (2003) NGO dilemmas: Trojan horses for global neo-liberalism? In: PanitchLLeysC (eds) The New Imperial Challenge: Socialist Register 2004. London: Merlin Press.
47.
WilsonB (2007) New media, social movements, and global sport studies: A revolutionary moment and the sociology of sport. Sociology of Sport Journal24(4): 457–477.
48.
WilsonBHayhurstL (2009) Digital activism: Neoliberalism, the Internet, and sport for youth development. Sociology of Sport Journal26(1): 155–181.
