The Sport for Development Collation Outcomes Model 7. 2.
The focus of the Sport for Development Collation is to define a collective and sector-led understanding of how to improve the outcomes of sports programmes, provide advice on how to design programmes and promote the use of shared and consistent measurements of impact in an attempt to further strengthen the evidence base in this area (Sport for Development Collation, 2015).
The Sport for Development Collation Outcomes Model (2015) defines outcomes across two continuous sequences - from intrinsic to extrinsic, and from individual to social. The two sequences reflect the strong evidence that links emotional skills and behaviours to positive outcomes in other areas of life.
Sport programme outcomes can either be intrinsic or extrinsic, for example a programme can support a person to increase essential and intrinsic elements of their nature (self-esteem, managing emotions, motivation), and also support them to develop certain extrinsic behaviours (play sport, be active and healthy, learn and have a job).
Sports programmes deliver outcomes for the individual person or for social groups and communities. For example, a programme can change an individual’s emotional skills and behaviours, and as a result influence their family lives, communities and wider society.
The model identifies four distinct groups of outcomes:
- Social, emotional and cognitive capabilities
- Individual achievements and behaviours
- Inter-personal relationships
- Benefits to society

Figure 15: The Sport for Development Collation Outcomes Model (2015, adapted from: https://londonfunders.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/SfD%20Framework_0.pdf)
Definitions of the outcomes identified in each section can be found below:
Social, emotional and cognitive skills | |
Self-efficacy* | Perceived self-confidence in their current abilities and future tasks. |
Self- esteem | An individual’s overall sense of self-worth (personal value), self-respect, selfperception and self-awareness. It involves beliefs about the self, such as appearance (body image), emotions and behaviours |
Motivation | The process that initiates, guides and maintains an individual’s goal oriented behaviour. Motivation is what causes a person to act and achieve something: |
Managing emotions | An individual’s ability to recognise their emotions and their effects (selfawareness) by examining and regulating emotions, thoughts and resulting actions (self-reflection, self-management) and keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check (self-control, self-regulation, self-discipline) |
Resilience | An individual’s perseverance and persistence when faced with obstacles (grit) and their flexibility in handling change (adapting, coping) |
Social skills | How an individual interacts and relates to others. It can apply to simple social contexts and work environments. It relates to confidence in social interactions (social competence), forming relationships, working effectively in teams and interpreting others. It includes the ability to lead peers and be a role model, and to empathise and motivate others. It also includes communication skills such as expressing, presenting and listening |
Cognitive functioning | The mental processes (such as perception, attention, memory and decisionmaking) involved in an individual’s problem-solving, time management, critical thinking, creativity and intellectual flexibility |
Individual achievements and behaviours | |
Increased physical wellbeing | Improved functional fitness, cardio respiratory fitness, muscular strength, adiposity/ body composition; cholesterol levels, bone health, joint health and immune system function |
Improved mental wellbeing | Improved mood, feelings of happiness and life satisfaction, and reduced levels of stress and anxiety |
Sustained participation in sport/physical activity | Increased intrinsic motivation for physical activity; creation of sporting habits; and belief that ‘sport is for them’ |
Positive health behaviour | Improved diet (healthy eating), safe sex, reduced substance misuse, and smoking cessation |
Reduced anti-social behaviour | Improved pro-social values and reduction of behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to others. Increased positive social interactions |
Improved attitudes to learning and attendance to school | Improved engagement with school; improved behaviour in school; reduced abenteeism |
Improved educational attainment and achieving qualifications | Improved learning, academic performance, attainment at school and achievement of qualifications |
Enhanced career prospects | In a secure job or accessing training opportunity; improved skills and experience |
More securely housed | Adequate and sustained accommodation |
Inter-personal relationships | |
Increased social capital and trust* | Social capital describes the pattern and intensity of formal and informal networks among people and the shared values which arise from those networks. Aspects of social capital include increased levels of trust, increased membership of various groups and improved access to networks and amount of social contact individuals have in their lives. Different types of social capital can be described in terms of different types of networks: Bonding social capital describes closer connections between people and is characterised by strong bond Bridging social capital describes more distant connections between people and is characterised by weaker, but more cross-cutting ties Linking social capital describes connections with people in positions of power and is characterised by relations between those within a hierarchy where there are differing levels of power |
Increased volunteering | Frequent activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives. Volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual |
Increased community cohesion and spirit | A cohesive community is one where there is a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities; the diversity of people’s different backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and positively valued; and those from different backgrounds have similar life opportunities |
Positive parenting | Improved parenting skills and styles, improved parent mental well-being, reduced behaviour difficulties in children |
Benefits to society | |
Less need for health services | Improvement in physical health by increasing fitness and reducing obesity; preventing a number of chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, strokes, osteoporosis, hypertension); and providing therapeutic benefits for the management of existing diseases and illnesses. Improvement in mental health by lowering the risk of depression; managing anxiety and stress; increasing an overall sense of wellbeing; and helping with some systems of clinically diagnosed personality disorders (such as schizophrenia) |
Contribution to economy through participation in the labour market | Healthy employment market; increased productivity for goods and services; increased innovation and new businesses; and increased revenue gerenated through taxable income |
Less dependance on welfare | More people better able to meet the expenses of daily living for a prolonged period of time and not be reliant on government welfare benefits (such as heating and housing benefits, Jobseeker’s Allowance and low-income benefits) |
Not subject to the criminal justice system | Improvement in pro-social behaviour, reduction in crime and reduction in anti-social behaviour particularly through lower levels of recidivism, drunk driving, use of illegal drugs, crime and suspension from school, property crime, shoplifting and juvenile crime |
Strengthened community through leadership and democratic participation | Increased civic engagement (citizens participate in the life of a community in order to improve conditions for others or to help shape the community’s future); and greater social cohesion |
Increased fairness and equality | Improved equality of opportunity and reduced stigma and discrimination for all, at work, in public, social and political life, and in people’s life chances |
Figure 16:. (i-iv) Definitions of the Sport for Development Collation Outcomes (2015, retrieved from: https://londonfunders.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/SfD%20Framework_0.pdf)
Dugdill & Stratton (2007) highlighted the RE-AIM framework planning tool as a useful way for practitioners to think about structuring their evaluation:
- Reach - Who did the intervention reach? – e.g. monitoring of participant numbers through registers, post codes, questionnaires, facility usage.
- Effectiveness - How effective was the intervention at meeting its aims and objectives? – e.g. physical activity increase, decrease in body mass index or increasing the contemplation to become physically active.
- Adoption – Have significant parts of the intervention been adopted elsewhere? -e.g. programme has been adopted by other organisations.
- Implementation - How was the intervention implemented and managed? How was the intervention funded? What skills did the staff have?
- Monitoring: What were the monitoring and evaluation strategies used to assess the quality of the intervention? Is the intervention sustainable?