We are looking for long-term strategic partners for Recovery through Sport. Our new program focused on supporting children and young people as they rebuild their wellbeing, confidence and sense of normalcy after crises.

BRING WHAT WORKS. BUILD WHAT’S MISSING

The adidas Foundation is launching Recovery Through Sport as a new program area. We are looking for up to three partner organizations to shape it with us.

1. 01The programRecovery Through Sport focuses on the role sport and physical activity can play in supporting the recovery of children and young people affected by crisis and displacement, where the conditions are right. 
2. 02The expression of interestThis Expression of Interest is not asking for finished project proposals. We want to understand what organizations already bring: their recovery practice, MHPSS capacity, robust safeguarding systems, operational reach, experience with sport or physical activity, learning culture, and appetite to build this work with us over time. 
3. 03The profileStrong existing work matters. We are looking for partners with experience to build from, and the openness to strengthen, adapt, test, and develop what is still missing. 

ABOUT THIS EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

The adidas Foundation is looking up to three organizations to enter a long-term strategic partnership for its Recovery Through Sport program. Programming, funding structure, learning priorities, and ways of working will be developed jointly with selected partners.

We have done the groundwork. With the support of an independent consortium of experts in MHPSS, sport, and physical activity—bringing together research and hands-on practice—we reviewed the existing evidence and consulted organizations across the humanitarian, MHPSS, and sport-for-development sectors. This work helped us develop the framework we are now using to shape Recovery Through Sport..

This is a partner search, not a project proposal process.

The findings are clear: sport is not a substitute for humanitarian response, and it is not a quick intervention. But where the conditions are right, sport and physical activity can support routine, connection, belonging, agency, and safe participation for children and young people whose lives have been disrupted.

The findings are also clear about what is missing. The evidence base remains thin, especially in lower-resourced crisis and displacement settings. The partnerships we invest in should help change that.

That is why we are starting with partners, not predefined projects. We are looking for credible organizations with the experience, systems, operational reach, and trusted presence to work effectively in complex and changing crisis and displacement settings. Together with selected partners, we will identify the right contexts, assess whether the necessary conditions are in place, and shape approaches that respond to realities on the ground.