On the occasion of UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, seven sports journalists from the Sahel spent a week discovering Swiss institutions, French-speaking Swiss media outlets, and key actors in the fields of sport and human rights.This unique immersion, organized by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and Fondation Hirondelle, aimed to strengthen journalistic coverage of sport as a driver of inclusion, social cohesion, and dialogue for peace.
During the week of July 20–26, 2025, the group met with a wide range of key stakeholders, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, and the sports desks of several media outlets. Designed as an immersive training experience, the program aimed to help journalists understand how closely sport institutions and values are intertwined with issues of inclusion and equality. These exchanges generated numerous story ideas and editorial angles for participants to pursue in their newsrooms. They committed to integrating a human rights perspective into their future sports coverage.
For example, Salamatou Kadri, a sports journalist at Studio Kalangou (Niger), shared: “In Niger, sport in general — and football in particular — plays a very important social role. It is a driver of social cohesion, helping to reduce growing inequalities and to strengthen the empowerment of women and young people.”
By providing these journalists with direct access to sports and media institutions, this immersion demonstrated how sport — and the way it is covered — can become a powerful lever for peace, inclusion, and social cohesion.