On the occasion of the Rolex Paris Masters, UNESCO and the French Tennis Federation (FFT) signed a partnership agreement to promote values education through sport within the framework of the International Convention against Doping in Sport, on 28 October 2019.
This agreement, signed in the presence of Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO, and Bernard Giudicelli, President of the FFT and Vice-President of the International Tennis Federation, is in line with UNESCO's effort to strengthen its commitment in promoting ethic values in sport and to engage with the sports movement and civil society, as well as to give new impetus to the Anti-Doping Convention.
For the FFT, this partnership aims at addressing major international challenges and placing sport at the service of sustainable human and economic development, in line with the goals set by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This partnership, aimed at promoting the ethical dimension of sport, as well as gender equality and the social inclusion of youth, is axed on four areas of cooperation: the promotion of ethical values in and through sport, in particular the fight against doping; the promotion of tennis as a vector of gender equality; strengthening access to heritage and cultural and linguistic diversity through tennis; the promotion of tennis as a tool for dialogue, social inclusion and resilience.
The implementation of this agreement will be ensured by an action plan that will unfold both on the French territory and internationally, with particular attention to French-speaking countries.
To promote full ownership of the initiatives undertaken, the targeted beneficiaries, as well as relevant stakeholders (sports associations, schools, municipalities, local authorities, etc.), will be involved at all stages of the projects, from their conception to their implementation and evaluation.
The partnership was also presented at the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Anti-Doping Convention, which took place from 29 to 31 October 2019 at UNESCO Headquarters, in the presence of Mr Giudicelli.