The World Sports Alliance, an Intergovernmental Organization (WSAIGO) is acting as the fiscal sponsor of World Sports Alliance (USA), a Nonprofit Corporation (WSAUSA) as they announce their entrance into the blockchain space with the launch of iGObit, the digital token made for global citizens (www.igobit.com).

With a target of USD $350 - $500 Million, this will not only be one of the largest crypto offerings to date but also marks a first of its kind offering whereby an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) has entered the space of digital tokens. An IGO is considered an international personality comprised of member states under specific government treaties and is given rights and privileges within its member states.

Asa St. Clair meets Kofi Annan

iGObit is being developed upon the Stellar open source platform using Hyperledger blockchain technology, making iGobit a hybrid, distributed ledger offering. World Sports Alliance plans to use the funds to energize its entire ecosystem, with the ultimate goal of empowering youth sports programs worldwide. When asked about the offering, World Sports Alliance Treasurer, Mr. Asa Saint Clair, was quoted as saying, "We are pleased to announce our entrance into the crypto token space with the launch of iGObit. Our digital token is a unique offering in that we are using blockchain and encryption technology, while still complying with KYC laws, as any world government-affiliated entity would. By using the Stellar open source platform, we are combining the best of many worlds as a means to deploy our core mission of youth sports programs worldwide, as well as fulfill our secondary mission of supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It was so fitting that we launch this endeavor from the World Economic Forum at Davos, at a time when sustainability and blockchain seem to be the two most recurring themes at the WEF this year."

When asked why the WSA entered the blockchain technology space as a means to finance its mission, Mr. Saint Clair further stated, "The idea for the World Sports Alliance originated back as early as the year 2000, inside of the United Nations back when Mr. Kofi Annan was the secretary general. Even more fitting was that I had the privilege to meet Mr. Annan here at the WEF. The WSA vision originated as a means to empower socioeconomic mobility, on the Sport for Development and Peace platform. Many people do not realize just how much sports and finance go hand-in-hand. The Olympic Games comes every four years and plays an important role in stimulating local economies worldwide. With the launch of iGObit, we seek to mirror those efforts by launching youth sports programs that encourage young people to seek to better themselves, their families and communities. Using blockchain allows for distribution, equality and transparency which are values that are in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."

Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary-General of the World Sports Alliance IGO, met with the majority of education and sports ministers on the African continent at Rabat, Morocco, during the week of January 15th. At this gathering, Dr. Klein encouraged these countries, many of which are currently World Sports Alliance Member States, to embrace the Sports for Development and Peace platform, as well as support iGObit as a means to finance their own youth education and sports programs at a time when funding for many of these programs has been declining. Dr. Klein was quoted as saying, "The Sports for Development and Peace platform is at the heart of the World Sports Alliance. We see the vast budgets and economic impact that sports has around the world. With the launch of iGObit, we seek to bring sustainable development to the African continent, as well as the other territories that comprise our member states, through the use of youth sports, health and education programs. Many of these jurisdictions are resource-rich and cash poor, yet also have a dearth of talented young athletes. We see no reason that in the name of financial equality and justice that these jurisdictions should not be brought to the forefront of the world stage and we see our digital token offering as a means to do so."

H.E. Alain Lemieux, World Sports Alliance IGO President also added, "I am so happy to see the launch of iGObit as a way to empower the entire WSA ecosystem. When we first launched WSA back in 2007, the United Nations representatives told me that it would take 10 years to see the IGO come to fruition. We are now at the 10-year mark and we see the launch of iGObit as the catalyst that will move the effort forward, as we originally envisioned. The youth of this world are the future and with each use of our crypto token people can be reassured that they are making a contribution into these young people, as well as sustain life on the planet Earth."

World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organization was formed in 2007, as the result of a private-public multi-stakeholder partnership initiative under the auspices of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). The mission of the organization is the advancement of socioeconomic mobility, health and education issues for the approximately 530 million people within WSA's 33 member states, using youth sports as a medium. WSA has contractual entitlements and government concessions on its balance sheet in excess of USD $100 billion dollars and is the fiscal sponsor of iGObit – the blockchain token designed for global citizens with financial equality in mind. World Sports Alliance operates on the Sport for Development and Peace platform and exists in furtherance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Media Contact:
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In Rabat, the Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organisation, Dr. Gilles Klein, meets the delegations of the Member States

In Rabat - Morocco, Dr. Gilles Klein, the Secretary General of the World Sports AllianceIntergovernmental Organisation (WSAIGO) and the Director of Cabinet of the General Secretariat of the WSAIGO, Mrs. Sylvie Delpech, organized informal working sessions with representatives of the Member States of the Intergovernmental Organization who attended the first African school Sport Forum.

Thirty-eight delegations from African Countries were present on the 15^th and 16^th of January of 2018 in Rabat to participate at the first African Forum of School Sport. The Secretary General of the WSAIGO took advantage of this opportunity to meet with the delegations of the Member States of the WSAIGO Intergovernmental Organization on the sidelines of the formal sessions of the forum organized by the Kingdom of Morocco and the International School Sport Federation.

Thus, the Secretary General, Gilles Klein, and the Director of Cabinet of the General Secretariat, Sylvie Delpech, were able to organize informal working sessions with eleven delegations of Member States of the WSAIGO: Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Central African Republic and Rwanda. The delegations of each of these Countries were led by the Minister of Education or the Minister of Youth and Sports, their cabinet directors or directors of physical activity and sport, physical education or school sport.

The election of new presidents, the appointment of new ministers and new administrations meant that delegations, generally, did not have a full understanding of the purpose and benefits of their Countries’ membership within the WSAIGO, or know about the existence of youth education programs andtraining of managers and the negotiation of partnerships for the construction of sports infrastructures for youth.

The Secretary General and the Director of Cabinet therefore recalled the WSA’s history and the nature of its collaboration with the Member States. They discussed the 2008-2015 MDG period and the difficulty of concluding public-private partnerships with Countries under structural adjustment agreements with the Bretton Woods institutions. They presented the new financing paths of the SDG 2015 - 2030 period, more in line with the innovation economy.

They announced the upcoming Initial Token Offering (ITO), coinciding with the Davos World Economic Forum being held from the 23^rd to 26^th of January of 2018, of the IGObit, the official digital token of the WSAIGO, its affiliated entities, projects and initiatives that form theWSA Ecosystem made for the Global Citizens, to finance economic partnerships and local sports projects. Links to the www.igobit.com website were sent to the representatives of the participating Member States.

The delegations of the WSAIGO Member States showed lack of understanding of the cooperation and action to be taken between them and the WSAIGO Intergovernmental Organization over the previous years, but demonstrated their keen interest and even their great enthusiasm to the five (5) key proposals presented by Dr. Gilles Klein, related to a multilateral collaboration to be established to foster SDP initiatives in Africa.  All delegations wished to revive cooperation as soon as possible. Armed with their African experience on the ground, the Secretary General and the Director of Cabinet declared that they will not propose, to Africa, white elephants, i.e.: these complex but sterile administrative scaffolds. 

They will regularly inform the delegations of the participating Member States, as well as the thirty-eight African delegations present in Rabat, of the evolution of the IGObit fundraising and the possibility of sitting around a table to discuss concrete projectsadapted to the needs of the African youth. Finally, several heads of delegations expressed the wish to quickly start the process of becoming a Member State of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organization, these Countries include Gabon, Cameroun, Tanzania and Kenya just to mention a few.

  

As always, the meeting with the delegations of the WSA’s Member States presented opportunities for moments of exchange and fraternity.

At the first African School Sport Forum, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organization(WSAIGO) invites Benin to collaborate on the development of a Sport for Development and Peace Index

In Rabat - Morocco, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the WSAIGO proposes to Benin, a Member State of the WSAIGO Intergovernmental Organization, to collaborate, in partnership with the International School Sport Federation, on the development of a "Sport for Development and Peace" (SDP) index aimed at mobilizing States, businesses and organizations a an positive incentivizing tool to engage them in the financing SDP initiatives in financing SDP initiatives in Africa.


In his introductory speech at the conferenceof the first African School Sport Forum, Dr. Gilles Klein, referred to Michael Møller, the UN Director-General in Geneva. According to this senior UN official, "to change the World, we need to change the way the World does business, where sustainability is measured in a transparent way." This being said, however, we can note that, from the standpoint of sport, since 2003, sponsors have not sufficiently supported the SDP initiatives. Therefore in his speech to the Forum, the Secretary General of the WSAIGO Intergovernmental organization proposed the creation of a think-tank for the generation of a proposal for action.

The financial potential of sport is important. The sports industry generates $800 billion annually, or 1% of global GDP. The sporting events market is worth $80 billion a year, with strong growth. In a world in crisis, sport can become a formidable economic engine. So why is there so little money back on the ground?

In 1999, Kofi Annan was able to convince UN Member States to implement changes in favor of resilience to the planet. Governments have tried to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Sport was associated to this initiative.

But the world of industry, especially digital, has continued to function, as if everyone's responsibility was not engaged. Some industrial champions have even managed to make people believe that the Internet opened a second virtual planet whose resources would be unlimited.

The crisis of the financial sector following the collapse of Lehman Brothers raised doubts about the model of growth at all costs. The World began to rethink the business principles on which it persisted. Companies then further developed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) policies that can contribute to sustainable development.

Some States, companies or individuals resist. But most begin to realize that the resources on which our lives depend are in permanent and accelerated decline. The challenge of this resilience is to act today to prepare the lives of our children and our grandchildren.

In this context, the United Nations 2030 program is a universal campaign and is responsible for objectives that are acceptable to all, measurable through clear indicators. Do not hesitate to tie-in sports. How can this be done? UNGSII, sponsored by Michael Møller, has created a sustainability index for companies and governments based on the CSR and ESG policies they develop.

The Secretary General of the WSAIGO Intergovernmental organization, Dr. Gilles Klein, proposes to the thirty-eight delegations present in Rabat the creation of an SDP index to measure the effective engagement of all stakeholders in Africa. This index would be built with different types of organizations to measure the actual impact of each and, particularly, the level of investments. He proposed that a global conference be devoted to the evaluation of the SDP sector. It would present the annual results of companies, governments, NGOs and social movements. Africa cannot miss this Rendezvous with the future!

In this perspective, Dr. Klein addresses a proposal to the Minister of the Republic of Benin and the President of the University of Abomey Calavi to work collaboratively on the development of this SDP index and to discuss, with the African Union to set-up an African conference on the evaluation of sustainable development through sport.

At the end of the Forum, the Secretary General of the WSAIGO Intergovernmental organization met with the Beninese delegation. They exchanged on the development of the SDP index which is on track, since at the end of 2017, in Geneva, UNGSII accepted the principle of developing a SDP index favoring assessment of all stakeholders in sport. Within this process, Benin could become a leader for Africa.

At the first African School Sport Forum, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental invites Senegal to organize a conference on the financing of sport in Africa

At the first African School Sport Forum, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental invites Senegal to organize a conference on the financing of sport in Africa

In Rabat - Morocco, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance intergovernmental Organisation (WSAIGO), proposed to Senegal that it organize, in partnership with the International School Sport Federation, a conference on the financing of sport in Africa.

In their press conferences, the Heads of State of the Global North regularly remind us that: What Africa needs is funding to build the required and indispensable infrastructure. To finance article thirty-seven (37) of the United Nations 2030 program on sport, it will therefore be mandatory to invest.

In his conference, Dr. Klein pointed out that sustainable development and, particularly, Sports for Development and Peace initiatives, necessarily involve the mobilization of funds to support the financing of economic projects. The challenge is not little. The Countries of the global North are adopting austerity policies and reducing their official development assistance. Countries in the global South are struggling to finance their development but are seeking to become self-reliant thanks to their natural resources which constitute a funding potential.

The challenges confronting Countries have led to joint solutions between the public and the private sector. The association of Governments, Civil Society and Business leads to public-private partnerships that could be productive for sport. As part of national poverty reduction strategies, public-private partnerships are proposed in various sectors: agricultural and rural development, sustainable energies, sanitation and urban planning, infrastructure, land use planning, infrastructure, communication networks. Part of the funds raised by PPPs can be directed towards the construction of administrative infrastructures - for example the National Sports Institute - and local sports, the allocation of budgets to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the implementation of programs education and training.

The Major International SportsCorporations will also have to take a clear stand, between their specific interest in promoting their brands and their general interest in development through sport, to support the financing of the "Sports for Development and Peace" initiatives.

Dr. Klein, as Secretary General of the WSAIGO, proposes the creation,at an International level, of a special status of “Global Citizen Sponsorship” for sport related companies participatingin the funding of SDP initiatives, allowing them to benefit from tax credits and a SDP quality label.

He also introduces proposals for new ways and means of financing, that are in sync with an innovation economy:(1) Microfinance that turns young people into SDP entrepreneurs,mentioning the youth investment fund of the CONFEJES, which needs to be strengthened; (2) crowdfunding can be used to raise funds in the form of donations, loans or investments on a platform to contribute to a project; and (3) in the framework of recent innovations, financing through the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of digital crypto currencies or Tokens appears to be a funding tool for the future.

As part of his speech, the Secretary General of the WSAIGO, anintergovernmental organization that he co-founded10 years ago with Mr. Alain Lemieux, the President of the WSAIGO, Dr. Klein announced the Official Initial Token Offering (ITO)of the IGObit, the official token of the WSAIGO, its affiliatedentities, projects and initiatives that form the WSA Ecosystem. The IGObit, created for the Global Citizens, will be launched following its presentation at the Davos World Economic Forum being held from the 23^rd to the 26^thof January 2018. This initiative of the World Sports Alliance USA Non-profit organization, that is sponsored by the WSAIGO will allow funding and financing of partnerships and local projectsof innovative Green and Sustainable Technologies in the Solar Energy and Clean Potable Water sectors, as well as SDP initiatives within the thirty-three (33) Member States of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organization (WSAIGO.) in furtherance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr. Klein proposes to the Minister of the Republic of Senegal and to the President of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar to organize, in partnership with WSAIGO and the Technical Committee on Youth and Culture, a conference on the financing and funding of sustainable development through sport (SDG). This proposal was also the subject of a more in-depth discussion between Gilles Klein and the SenegaleseDirector of Physical and Sports Activities, who represented the Minister of Sports of Senegal in Rabat with his colleague the Secretary General of School and University Sports Associations. This discussion concluded to the implementation of this conference after the Rabat forum.

At the first African School Sports Forum, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organisation (WSAIGO) invites the thirty-eight African delegations to join the Global "Sport for Development and Peace" (SDP) initiative

At the first African School Sports Forum, Dr. Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organisation (WSAIGO) invites the thirty-eight African delegations to join the Global "Sport for Development and Peace" (SDP) initiative

In Rabat - Morocco, Dr. Gilles Klein, secretary General of the WSAIGO, addressed the African delegations and the intergovernmental sports organizations present to invite them to take an active part in the restructuring of the worldwide "Sport for Development and Peace" (SDP) sector to be organized in the spring of 2018.

At the first African School Sport Forum held, in Rabat, on the 15^th and 16^th of January 2018, duringthe introductory conference of that event, Dr. GillesKlein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organization, addressed the thirty-eight (38) African delegations that were present and led by the Minister of Education, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Morocco, their cabinet directors or directors of physical and sports activities, physical education and school sport. In the audience, several intergovernmental organizations were present, including the Conference of Francophone Ministers of Youth and Sports (CONFEJES) and the Conference of Francophone Ministers of National Education (CONFEMEN).

Dr. Gilles Klein, thekeynote speaker, recalled the delicate situation in which physical education, school sport and youth sport currently find themselves on a global scale, particularly in African Countries. The situation is illustrated by the following paradox: "The more the needs of the populations increase, the more the public offer of physical activity tends to decrease".

As part of the World Summits of Physical Education and Sport convened by UNESCO, Ministers recall that access to “sport for all” is a fundamental human right, however theyconcedethat this right is far from being respected. For ministers, one of the major problems is investment. Access to physical education and sport for all, management training, availability of facilities and equipment depend on funding that is, all too often, lacking.

Following a reflection on the financing of sustainable development and the seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and the need to associate sport as a means forsustainable development, Dr. Klein invited to thirty-eight African delegations to coordinate their views on the international scene.

Thus, he proposed to the President and the Secretary General of CONFEJES and to the Commonwealth Ministers to take part actively in the think tank on restructuring the Global SDP sector that will take place in the spring of 2018.

In her communication, the representative of the CONFEJES replied to the Secretary General of the WSAIGO, Dr. Gilles Klein,that she will transmit his request to the Secretary-General of the CONFEJES expressing that her organization was able and willing to contribute to the restoration and rejuvenation of the Global SDP sector as a componentof one of the main objectives ofher intergovernmental organization.

WSA in Lausanne - The General Secretariat – World Sports Alliance – Intergovernmental Organization — 7 October 2017

Lausanne 5 October 2017. PalaisBeaulieu. The World Sports Alliance Intergovernmental Organization(WSA-IGO) was invited to attend the "Achieving SDGs through Sport: partnerships and institutional responses for greater coherence and effectiveness" Seminarthat assembled, by invitation, more than 130 participants from the world sport governance and industry.

Dr.Gilles Klein, Secretary-General,was invited to present the WSA-IGO’s contribution to the achievement of the SDGs through physical education, physical activity and sport. He took part in the third panel dedicated to “Institutional responses for achieving SDGs through and in sport by multi stakeholders initiatives and other actors”. The message he conveyed to the attending audience is the following:

The WSA Intergovernmental Organization, comprising thirty-three Member States, is linked to the United Nations system but remains politically autonomous. Since 2007, it has been mandated by the international civil society to educate youth and train their staff in the MDGs through sport. Considering that the universal is as much the objective of the global goals as the result of the shared situations, WSA wanted to take action to reduce the inequalitiesof access to physical education, physical activity and sport and contribute to the sustainable development of developing countries. During the two eras of the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) and the Sustainable Development Goals(2015-2030), the Secretary General’s presentation analysed the context, the policy implemented, the investments made and the evaluationof the performance. Experience leads to the identification of four challenges for SDP organizations to ensure the transformation of the World as desired by the United Nations: coordinate, finance, evaluate and govern.

The Secretary-General’s oral presentation can be viewed on line: http://bit.ly/2fRVLVC.

It is complemented with a text by the Secretary-General text related to the WSA-IGO’s policy during the MDGs and SDGs eras: http://bit.ly/2y8vJYJ.

Seminar of October 5 Program: "Achieving SDG's through sport partnerships and institutional responses for greater coherence and effectiveness"

The General Secretariat – World Sports Alliance – Intergovernmental Organization — 7 October 2017 at 07:45. This press release reiterates the essence of the official release issued by the organizers of the seminar.

Lausanne, 5 October 2017 – In the Olympic capital, at the Palais Beaulieu, more than 130 representatives of International and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Sports Federations (IFs) and International Civil Society, met for a seminar, studied and discussed strategies and possible forms of collaboration to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through and with the world of sports.

The UN agencies presented their programs and actions in favor of sports. The sport and humanitarian intergovernmental organizations, such as the Commonwealth or the World Sports Alliance, presented their proposals. The Universities of Lausanne and Geneva and the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology (AISTS) organized and moderated the debates that aimed to:

•  Improve the coherence and effectiveness of collaborative action;

•  Broaden knowledge of the different partnerships within the United Nations system, the 
IOC, IFs, and other relevant actors and their respective activities in this regard;

•  Provide resources, practical tools, and information to better achieve common goals;

•  Encourage the creation of new partnerships.

Practical tools were made available and exchanged and new clusters of knowledge were identified. 

The Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance meets with the Ministers of the African continent countries responsible for school sports,in Morocco

Gilles Klein, Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance (WSAIGO) will touch upon the renewal of the sector of Sport for Development and Peace, following the closing of the United Nations’ Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), in May 2017, and, in particular,will discuss the question of financing of Youth Sport in Africa.

New York, January 11, 2018.

Gilles Klein, Secretary General of WSAIGO as well as a well-known expert in the field of Sport for Development and Peace, was invited by the Minister of National Education of Morocco whois bringing together the Ministers of the African continent countries responsible for school sports. The Ministers are meeting together within the framework of the first African Sports Forum, co-organized by Morocco with the International School Sports Federation, comprised of 80 countries from five continents. This federation will organize the “Gymnasiades” in Marrakech, in May 2018, which are sometimes referred to as Olympic Games ofSchool Sport.

Gilles Klein will discuss the following question: To transform Africa through Sports: Yes, but How? By developing the following arguments.

According to Nelson Mandela, sport has the power to change the World because it is a means of harmonious interaction with others. To transform the World is also the challenge of the 2030 Program to achieve the United Nations’Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. Since 2008, His Majesty Mohammed VI defined for Morocco an ambitious and realistic sport policy. This hypothesisof the contribution of the World transformation through sport calls for solutions adapted to the African continent. The conference presents five challenges for the transformation of Africa through sport which lead to five proposals for the Ministers of the African countries.

Sport 2030. It is a must to know on which field are currently played physical education and school sport, more generally the sport for all. These sectors suffer from a decline in public attention and from budgetary cutbacks. The entire South suffers more than the entire North.

Sport 2030.  We will have to better bring the team together. The World and the sports industry are very fragmented. Africa has too few alliances.

Sport 2030. On the field, we will have to commit further. Since 2003, the World and the sports industry has not supported the “Sports for development and Peace” sector enough, particularly in Africa. 

Sport 2030. We will need to invest. In Africa, sustainable development necessarily passes through the mobilization of short-term funds to support the funding of economic projects from which sports must be a beneficiary.

Sport 2030. We will need to reinforce the capacities of the competitors. The training of young people and their support systemremain insufficient, particularly in Africa. Human resources imply a long-term investment.

The proposals made to the Ministers of the African countries will be the subject of a workshop for the launching of concrete initiatives.  During this workshop, Gilles Klein,asthe Secretary General of the World Sports Alliance, will meet the Ministers of this Organization’s Member States.