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The purpose of this chapter is to critically examine the extensive calls for enhanced evidence within the sport-for-development field. The chapter questions whether these are appropriate and realistic.

The chapter utilizes current literature to deconstruct the assumptions that increased evidence will legitimize the field of sport-for-development, improve practice and enhance future policy. The authors’ own experiences, working as external evaluators, are also drawn upon to critique the value of current “evidence.”

The chapter illustrates how current calls for evidence are somewhat misguided and are unlikely to fully realize the intended consequence of validating sport-for-development or improving future practice. Utilizing personal reflections, the impact that Global North/Global South power imbalances have on data is discussed, suggesting that this will rarely lead to data that provide a detailed understanding of work in practice.

The chapter builds on the work of other authors illustrating the importance of disconnecting research from evidence and monitoring and evaluation in the sport-for-development field.

The chapter utilizes previous literature but also provides a rarely available personal perspective on the issue of evidence that continues to permeate the rationale behind undertaking research within sport-for-development.

This chapter draws on qualitative data and observations from a range of projects seeking to use football to support mental health recovery. The authors conceptualize recovery as a fluid ongoing process that while supporting individuals to manage and deal with mental illness, may not result in the reduction or remission of clinical symptoms.

The research discussed in the chapter is drawn from interviews with male participants aged 18–40 years, who participated in four different football and mental health projects.

The chapter outlines three key ways in which participants perceived that football contributes positively to their recovery. Participants discuss football as providing a “safe space,” free from stigma, and as a setting where they can develop productive and engaging social relationships with medical professionals, support staff, coaches, and peers. Finally, they perceive football as a context in which they can begin to rework and redefine their identities, to move away from identities constructed around illness and vulnerability.

The chapter concludes by considering both the value and limitations of football as a mechanism for supporting recovery.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine the experiences of indigenous participants in Global North led sport for development programmes. The chapter considers whether the experiences of indigenous participants reflect the neo-colonialist claims levied at such initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter draws on findings from a qualitative study utilising in depth interviews with 14 young women who participated in a sport for development initiative and 8 mothers and grandmothers.

Findings – The research illustrates how we can construct sport for development initiatives as neo-colonial activities imposed on indigenous participants by Global North agencies. However, we argue that this alone does not capture the complexity of experience at local level and the young women we interviewed highlighted the important place sport for development programmes have within their lives and how they reshape them to provide resources that are valuable for them within their communities.

Research limitations/implications – The challenges of navigating power relationships as Global North researchers working in the Global South are highlighted and their potential impact on the research discussed.

Originality/value – The chapter highlights the importance of understanding indigenous experiences in sport for development programmes. Such local level analysis is lacking within current literature.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce critical issues of power, social reproduction, and agency in the practice and institutionalization of sport-for-development and the burgeoning “Sport for Development and Peace” (SDP) sector. To this end, the chapter draws on a host of recent academic contributions to the critical study of sport-for-development.

Key findings of several research projects are organized and presented in four thematic categories: terms of development, voice and agency, social reproduction, and privilege and dominance. In turn, the conclusion examines recent theoretical applications of participatory methods and critical pedagogy to the research and practice of sport-for-development.

The chapter provides a succinct introduction to critical issues in sport-for-development work and will be of value to researchers, students, and practitioners interested in progressive approaches to international development and the role of sport therein.