Paris 2024 – Games for Social Inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers

By Josephine Goube, CEO of Techfugees

Every year on June 20th, known also as World Refugee Day, millions of people around the world acknowledge the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees worldwide. In Paris this year, that day was even more special.I run an international NGO called Techfugees and we, as the name suggests, use technology to mobilise the innovation community around providing solutions to the challenges faced by refugees. This year, we have partnered with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Bid Committee to share knowledge, ideas and experiences and to help work together on a more inclusive world.The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Bid has inclusion, diversity and acceptance at its very heart. The bid embodies Olympic values and is driven to use sport and the global stage of the Olympics to promote refugees’ integration and solutions to the challenges they face.The bid has already partnered with social mobility hub the Yunus Centre, and is working closely with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to discuss how the Paris 2024 Games can be used as a catalyst for change in society. During World Refugee Day, Kenyan Olympian and Refugee Olympic Team Chef de Mission Tegla Louroupe joined bid leaders Tony Estanguet and Bernard Lapasset to visit schools in the city and spread the word to the next generation of athletes and leaders.In support of the bid’s vision, Techfugees is organising a hackathon in partnership with Paris 2024 this weekend, where we will be inviting the most gifted innovators (refugees and non refugees) from across Paris to share their tech-savvy solutions to include more refugees into sport and play a part in the bid of the GamesWith the support of the bid, we are able to reach a wider network and increase our chances of supporting those in need and the hackathon will look to combine both Techfugees and Paris 2024’s main goals, by promoting the practice of sport, creating career opportunities for refugees, and promoting the values of Olympism.The Olympic Games are a unique global event with an immense international audience. Paris 2024 promises to use this worldwide stage to not only put on a superb celebration of sport, but to change the world for the better. With a inclusive consciousness ingrained at the heart of the bid, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games promise to be just as memorable for the social good it promotes as it will be for the sport it will celebrate.See you there, and/or at the pitches on Sunday!