Aid and sport: it's a no-brainer for Australia

The latest federal budget announcement to drain $224 million from the national aid funding pool should be seen against the landscape of the Coalition's changing perspectives on international aid. In launching new aid directions almost exactly two years ago at the National Press Club, Foreign Minster Julie Bishop argued, "innovation is intrinsic to our thinking and our policy development."

That word, innovation, is generally a euphemism for doing more with less. But, while most have views on this, and on its politics, it's a essentially diversionary discussion. The reality is those of us in aid do need to do better with less. We always do.

That won't change no matter who wins government on July 2.

In seeking to innovate, we should look to develop smart aid programs with well-formed delivery mechanisms. We need new aid vehicles that can work within the existing aid structures, particularly in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals; we need to find ways to capitalise on areas where Australia has a strong presence and operating culture already, and we need ideas that can be put to use now.

One such vehicle ticks all those boxes: sport.

Let's take perhaps our most thorny aid destination: Indonesia.

As our nearest neighbour, the world's largest Muslim country and a breeding ground for terror groups which have left our nation in mourning more than once, the archipelago to our north is writ large across both our history and our present.

A succession of Australian governments have struggled to deal with the vast nation and few have got a handle on how to best shape our aid outreach to this vast nation.

Aid and trade have formed the backbone of the last decades of relations between Jakarta and Canberra. The relationship has largely avoided getting trapped in minefields like East Timor, West Papua, Timor Gap, capital punishment, terrorism and Barnaby Joyce's thought bubbles largely because those dominant core interests serve both parties well.

How can the aid part of that be maintained in the wake of the latest trend to cut aid funding further and further with each passing budget announcement (aid has been cut in the last four federal budgets)?

In a recent report produced by the United Nations Office for Sport for Development and Peace, the authors averred "Well-designed sport activities that incorporate the best value of sport – self-discipline, respect for one's opponent, fair play, teamwork and adherence to mutually agreed upon rules – help individuals to build the values and communication skills necessary to prevent and resolve conflict in their own lives."

Working on such manifestly broad areas, sport can directly target hot-spot areas in Indonesia (and elsewhere too) like education, health, gender equality and social radicalisation, all areas to which the government is keen to tie our aid programs.

Not only can it work in such zones, sport as a participatory aid platform at the grassroots level can engender fun, mutual respect, long lasting ties, memorable relationships and more, in the noble spirit of sporting endeavour. It's soft diplomacy par excellence.

Australia's DFAT has a small sport for development program across the Asia Pacific, with some $49 million funded for 2015-16. It is unclear whether this program is to be bolstered or even continued in the wake of the $224 million cuts in aid funding announced in the most recent Federal Budget (The ALP has said it will reverse the cuts if in government).

Let's return to Indonesia and consider football (soccer), for instance.

According to FIFA, there are over 7 million registered and unregistered football players in Indonesia, making it the seventh largest football playing country in the world and the largest footballing nation in the Islamic world.

It is the country's major spectator sport, attracting a majority of young, poor, urban males. The role of women tends to be highly gender stereotyped and violence amongst male fan groups is relatively common.

This presents opportunities for aid programs. Well structured gender equality, anti-violence and anti-radicalisation aid initiatives using football at the grassroots level as the vehicle would be likely to produce results across most aid measurement paradigms.

Our football program among Rohingya refugees in Malaysia for instance is a partner in the Sustainable Development Goals, with a formal connection to 6 of the 17 global aims.

For Australian aid, the opportunities are particularly clear.

Given our country's recent regional soccer successes and good international standing in the game, Australian soccer has enormous credibility across Asia. There are also great role models to draw upon, such as Western Australian former Indonesian Super League star Robbie Gaspar and current Socceroos star Massimo Luongo – who has Indonesian heritage - as well as potential sponsors and funding bodies to whom to appeal for support.

A-League clubs might also scout Indonesian players to bolster the game there and also to generate ties between the two nations via mutual interests in between the white lines. Brisbane Roar, owned by Indonesian business interests, seems an obvious home for the first major Indonesian A-League star.

Further ins regarding aid are presented in areas to interest business too. Areas of management, governance and infrastructure in football and in other sports are sorely lacking in Indonesia.

Anti-corruption structures and consulting in relation to sports administration are also areas of need.

This is emphasised by the fact that it is only recently – and with conditions – that Indonesia's ban from FIFA for matters surrounding mismanagement and internal politicking has been rescinded.

Mandela said 'sport speaks to people in a language they can understand', and soccer is the most fluently spoken in the world's poorest nations.

Given its popularity and how intertwined it is with politics everywhere, the beautiful game is just one example of how sport may be a key to regional security and to improving relations between our nation, those in our region, and beyond.

Whether our political leaders are right or wrong on aid, the fact is we need to do things better and find news ways to deliver aid that is both beneficial to our external stakeholders and also to Australians.

The best way we can apply innovative approaches to aid is to utilise Australia's extensive sporting prowess and rich sporting culture. In Australian direct aid, sport ought to be, like a star goal scorer, front and centre.