from left to right: Fernando Parente (FISU Director of Healthy Campus and Universities Relations ), Eric Saintrond (FISU Secretary General/CEO) and Vincent Defourny (UNESCO Director Geneva Liaison Office)
FISU welcomed Vincent Defourny, Director of UNESCO Geneva Liaison Office, to its headquarters in Lausanne (SUI) to finalise a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two institutions.
Since the proclamation of the International University Sports Day (IDUS) in 2016, UNESCO and FISU had a continuous relationship and set-up common objectives for the annual action plan through the FISU Healthy Campus programme: the Fit for Life programme, a UNESCO sport-based flagship designed to accelerate COVID-19 recovery, support inclusive and integrated policymaking, aimed at enhancing the well-being of youth around the world. Powered by a global compact of partners, the initiative uses data driven sport interventions to tackle intersecting crises in physical inactivity, mental health and inequality.
“FISU’s focus on education and sport have always been of great interest to UNESCO,” said FISU Secretary General-CEO, Eric Saintrond. “They have been a great supporter of the University Sport Movement for a long time, and signing this MoU marks an important milestone for continued cooperation between both organisations”.
In the context of the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference to be held in Barcelona in 2022, FISU and UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) jointly organise a side-event to highlight the role of sport and physical activity to enhance all aspects of well-being of students and the campus community at large, notably through a presentation of the Fit for Life and Healthy Campus initiatives—along with providing advice and support to organisers of the Costa Rica 2022 FISU World Forum to be held in April 2022.