Right To Play: how an Olympic champion built a charity around play
Founded by speed skater Johann Olav Koss, Right To Play uses play to help children affected by war, poverty and disease, now with play-based learning.
Not every organisation in sport for development started with football. Right To Play was founded by a speed skater, and over time it has moved away from organised sport altogether, towards something more basic: play. Its story shows how the field has changed since the days of the streetfootballworld festival 06.
What Right To Play does
Right To Play is an international non-profit whose mission is to use play to empower vulnerable children to overcome the effects of war, poverty and disease. Its work is linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and focuses on four outcomes:
- quality education;
- children’s health and well-being;
- girls’ empowerment;
- child protection.
It is headquartered in Toronto, runs programmes in 15 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and has national offices in Canada, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
An Olympic champion’s idea
The founder is the Olympic speed skater Johann Olav Koss. From 1994 he worked as an ambassador for Olympic Aid, raising awareness and money, after a trip to Eritrea that year. In 2000 he incorporated Right To Play, turning a fundraising vehicle into an organisation that runs programmes for children directly.
Key moments
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2000 | Right To Play founded by Johann Olav Koss |
| 2001 | First programmes in Angola and Côte d’Ivoire, with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees |
| 2010 | Indigenous leaders in Canada propose a partnership; it now works with more than 70 Indigenous communities |
| 2013 | Begins supporting Syrian refugee children in Jordan and Lebanon |
| 2018 | Part of a coalition at the G7 Summit calling for CAD$2.9 billion for girls’ education |
| 2019 | Leads a coalition in Mozambique that gets a decree repealed which had forced pregnant girls and young mothers out of day school |
| 2020 | Supports remote learning for children affected by COVID-19 |
The first country in that list is worth noting for Portuguese-speaking readers: Right To Play’s very first programmes, in 2001, were in Angola, and one of its clearest policy wins was in Mozambique.
From sport to play
Right To Play’s biggest shift has been in method. It started with sport for development programmes, but over time it has moved to play-based learning: using games and play inside education, not only on a pitch. It has also moved from running programmes itself to working with governments and education systems to create change at national scale.
That shift reflects a debate in the whole field. Competitive sport, including football, attracts young people and creates role models, but it also selects the most talented and can leave others out. Play-based approaches try to reach every child in a classroom.
A clash with the Olympics
In October 2008, the International Olympic Committee and the organisers of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games announced that Right To Play would not have an official role there. The reason was sponsorship: Right To Play’s sponsors, such as Canon, Scotiabank and Mitsubishi, competed with Olympic sponsors Kodak, Royal Bank of Canada and General Motors. Until then Right To Play, and Olympic Aid before it, had had an official presence at every Games since 1994. The episode showed how commercial interests can collide with the social side of big sporting events.
FAQ
Who founded Right To Play?
Olympic speed skater Johann Olav Koss, in 2000.
Where does Right To Play work?
In 15 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with headquarters in Toronto.
Is Right To Play a football organisation?
No. It began with sport for development programmes and now focuses on play-based learning.
Conclusion
Right To Play shows another route through the same field that football projects like Grassroot Soccer and the Mathare Youth Sports Association took. More in our football for development section.