In December 2023, the Sport and Social Cohesion Lab (SSCL) project funded by the Erasmus+ programme was completed. UP was represented by a team from the UP Faculty of Physical Culture (Arnošt Svoboda and Julia Wittmannová) together with Simona Šafaříková from the UP Faculty of Science.
Together with other research and non-profit organisations from the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland, they mapped and compared how sport programmes are used to promote cohesion in society and local communities. They used the "Living Lab" concept, which emphasises close collaboration not only between academic researchers and experts from non-profit organisations, but also and especially the engagement of the target group in sport and social projects – migrants, ethnic minorities, and socially excluded groups. In this way, the implemented activities are planned with respect to the needs of the target group, and their opinions are always included in the process of implementing sport programmes.
Based on the experiences obtained in the project, a toolkit for the creation and implementation of a Living Lab was created, with a focus on projects using sport as a tool for promoting social cohesion. It describes the importance of engagement of excluded groups, the emphasis on equality for all, communication with all stakeholders, the use of different methods of data collection and processing, and more. The guide includes practical recommendations and experiences from local partner projects.
Interested parties can download the guide at this address: https://www.sportanddev.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Living%20Lab%20toolkit.pdf.
A short summary of the Living Lab concept in Czech: https://gloknoco.net/download/sscl-czech-infographic/ (in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu67-erX8as).
If you have any inquiries, please contact Arnošt Svoboda from the Department of Social Sciences in Kinanthropology (arnost.svoboda@upol.cz).