This Thursday, May 5th, the Swedish Sports Confederation organized a SPEY project (Sport for the Prevention of Extremism in Youth) conference in Umea, where the main conclusions of the program have been detailed and methods to prevent extremism in youth through sport have been explained.
The event was attended by UFEC’s project leaders; and researchers from the University of Córdoba, who have been responsible for developing the scientific method on which SPEY is based.
The event began with an institutional welcome by representatives of the Swedish Sports Confederation. Then, Daniel Mateu, researcher at the University of Córdoba, Master’s degree in radicalization prevention and specialist in the analysis of jihadist terrorism, rebellions and radical movements, summed up the issue of radicalization through sport and pointed out tools for tackling it.
Later, Milena de Murga, psychologist and criminologist, co-creator and coordinator of the SPEY project and director of the Department of Social and International Projects at the UFEC, presented the program and its evolution together with Alla Krinitsyna, also from UFEC. Finally, Manuel Moyano, researcher on conflicts, groups, radicalization and violence at the University of Córdoba, closed the event by announcing the main conclusions drawn from SPEY.
The audience at the conference was made up of coaches, NGO professionals, university students and representatives of organizations working with refugees.
SPEY, a project to prevent the radicalization of young people
The SPEY Project, led by the UFEC and co-funded by the European Commission, combines the practice of sport and the learning of transversal skills with the aim of minimizing the risk factors involved in the process of radicalization in young people.
Understanding that extremism often uses social exclusion as a catalyst for certain hate speech. SPEY Project also seeks to improve the channels of integration and support network of people at risk of social exclusion while always maintaining a cross-cutting gender perspective. throughout the project.
Led by renowned academics, SPEY Project aims to produce tools which can measure the effectiveness of programs aimed at preventing extremism through sport. The SPEY project has the support of 7 countries and 9 ‘partners’, including the Confederation of Sports of Sweden, the Union of Federations of Latvia, the International Council of Sport and Physical Education of Germany, the City Council of Gondomar of Portugal, the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Greece, the French ‘think tank’ Sport and Citizenship, and the University of Córdoba.