MANY A LITTLE MAKES A MICKLE: LESSONS FROM NEGOTIATING ATHLETES’ SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR STRENGTHENING SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN SPORT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30925/slpdj.3.2.5Keywords:
Athlete Rights, Social Dialogue, Erasmus+, Negotiations, Social ProtectionAbstract
The social protection of elite athletes in Olympic sports constitutes a salient human rights issue. This article elucidates the outcomes and processes of a three-year Erasmus+ Sport project (SOPROS) aimed at assessing, evaluating, and implementing athletes’ social protection. The project relied on a participatory methodology and assembled national academic as well as transnational policy partners in its consortium. The aim of this article is to reflect on the three-year process of internal project work and stakeholder consultation in order to derive lessons for strengthening social dialogue and structured negotiation in sport governance. Based on the experiences of the authors in coordinating the project and participating in its negotiation-based formats, as well as on data generated throughout various project activities, we establish a three-dimensional model of preconditions for strengthened social dialogue and meaningful negotiations in sport. As these preconditions are significantly intertwined, positive developments in one area may trigger advances in all other dimensions, thereby enabling new and strengthened forms of collective efforts. We posit that, while narrow in scope and reach, the project and its main learnings may add to the current momentum towards a more equitable governance of sport based on processes of co-determination and social dialogue.
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