Social Legacies
Hosting sport events can bring many positive benefits to the community. Traditionally, many of the benefits that motivate event hosts, governments and sponsors have focused predominantly on creating economic or sport impacts. More recently, mega, major and signature sport event organizers are being asked to help communities address long-standing social issues and to leave the community better than before. The case can be made that social legacies such as greater community cohesion, improved accessibility, additional community programming, enhanced volunteerism, greater overall sport participation, increased physical activity and improved health of citizens are just as relevant as and perhaps even more important than other event legacies.
These social legacies have been difficult for event hosts to understand, let alone deliver or measure. In addition, the resources and expertise of host organizations are too often focused and consumed with executing the logistical demands of a competition. Hosts need the expertise, partnerships, funding and organizational capacity to specifically target social legacies.
This resource provides the background and process for host committees, social agencies and governments to plan and deliver initiatives that leave social legacies. The resource defines social legacies, provides examples and introduces an eight-step framework for event hosts to use in planning and delivering social legacies.
