The topics have been pushed into the public conscience by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at their daily press briefings, with chief executive David Grevemberg taking centre stage.

Grevemberg has the ability to be on near papal levels of preaching on a wide variety of social issues, with a fair chunk of his vocabulary ending in "ity". The words equality, diversity, prosperity, morality, inclusivity and many more roll off the tongue - dare I say it - with regularity.

The American has become seemingly far more aware of his tendency to preach, but refuses to shy away from it, because he believes in every word he is saying. Speaking to him a couple of months ago on the Gold Coast, he acknowledged that the preaching would only work if the CGF had the evidence to back up their efforts.

Sure enough, a booklet of evidence was delivered two days ago on the Gold Coast in the form a breakdown, detailing where the money raised at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games for UNICEF went.

Although there are many public charity initiatives that raise an awful lot of money, it feels quite rare that a document is produced telling you exactly what the couple of pounds you donated did.

Around £2.5 million ($3.5 million/€2.8 million) alone was raised at the Opening Ceremony at Celtic Park four years ago, with the final figure at the Games coming to around £6.5 million ($9.1 million/€7.4 million).

In collaboration with UNICEF, it is hard not be impressed by the initiatives carried out as a result of the fundraising. 

Programmes range from tackling the issue that around one in every 100 women die during pregnancy or due to birth complications in Lesotho, to raising awareness of AIDS and HIV in Swaziland, where one in four people between the ages of 15 and 49 are said to have the disease.

There were also projects to tackle child labour and marriage, increase education and boost the relationship between parents and their newborn child.

To use a Grevembergism, the collaboration with UNICEF certainly seems to fit with the idea of "sport with a social conscience". My understanding is that the CGF were very keen on continuing the initiative at Gold Coast 2018, but organisers opted for a more localised charity to support through the Games.

The CGF have certainly been impressive in raising awareness of various issues, however, and one wonders whether they could risk tying themselves up in knots at some point.

Achieving an equal split of medal events between men and women is one example and another great step, with their heart being in the right place. However, it does leave them with little wiggle room regarding their sport programme.

Could another sport almost solely played by women, like netball, make it onto the programme now? This could create a self-inflicted issue surrounding cricket, where the lack of appetite surrounding having the men's game feature could potentially impact on a women's competition joining the programme.

For what it is worth, I do not think many people would bat an eyelid if more women's events featured at the Games than men's. A fair few would claim it is about time.

Similarly, the idea to hold a minute's silence to mark the 24th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan Genocide seems a pretty fair one. There was nothing too extravagant, but it was a poignant moment.

My colleague Liam Morgan, who has been to the museum in the country's capital Kigali, was full of praise for the idea. My editor Duncan Mackay, however, wondered whether it would lead to other nations requesting commemorations for events in their history, which could prove far more controversial given the chequered past of the British Empire.

Grevemberg acknowledged this point, stating that the organisation would have to be selective when choosing what events should be marked. He added that Rwanda, who are one of only two nations to be part of the Commonwealth despite having no links to the British Empire, was a more recent story when the Commonwealth was viewed as a beacon of hope for the future.

I do not disagree, but there is a danger that the CGF will have to start dealing with tough decisions over commemorations in the coming years, where they might end up facing criticism for turning down requests. This could be similar to how the International Olympic Committee have faced criticism over their response to the Munich 1972 massacre.

The current leadership of the CGF seem to have the stomach to deal with these requests, with Grevemberg having previously stated that the good, bad and ugly history of the Commonwealth all need to be considered. There is no guarantee that future officials will want to follow in this stead, however.

There is also the risk of wanting to commemorate every former grievance, which could make acts of remembrance lose a considerable amount of their meaning.

I cannot help but think how a minute's silence at football matches for iconic players has now shifted into silences for loyal fans, where quite a lot of the time people have no idea who or what is being remembered.

As good as your initiatives may be, it does also have the potential to backfire.

We have, over the last week, seen how the good-willed Reconciliation Action Plan employed by Gold Coast 2018 has gone from being praised worldwide for the prominence of indigenous culture in the Opening Ceremony, to becoming somewhat blurred at home. Protests have allowed the narrative to switch from being a force for good to questions being asked over whether organisers should have done more.

As the CGF's UNICEF project shows, sport can have the ability to shine a light on issues and make an impact.

Some slow progress has been made in ensuring Israeli athletes can compete in nations where the country itself is not recognised. There have been flag and anthem controversies, but one wonders whether the light being shone on issues has helped make slight inroads into challenging topics?

Speaking to United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic last month, he referred to Iran as the "stone in his shoe" in relation to their continued opposition to having their wrestlers fight Israeli competitors, leading to one athlete being banned for deliberately losing a match.

The spotlight is set to fall on Israel shortly, when it hosts the start of this year’s Giro d’Italia next month.

Whatever the reason for taking the start of the Grand Tour out of Europe for the first time, it appears a case where a selection has been hopelessly misjudged.

Organisers were forced to remove the wording "West Jerusalem", after coming under pressure from Israeli Ministers. They initially used the name under advice from the Italian Sports Ministry, due to competing Israeli and Palestinian claims over the city.

Having waltzed into a dispute that has raged for decades, it should be no surprise that this highly politicised start has caused controversy, with human rights groups criticising the decision of organisers.

Given that there has been an escalation of tensions between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces on the Gaza border, resulting in around 28 Palestinians being killed and around 500 injured, the decision looks an even more unwise one.

In fairness to the Giro d’Italia, they have previously negotiated potentially challenging situations well. For instance, they took the start of the race to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2014.

The event went off without a hitch, with claims that the traditional orange and green of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities was left behind, as everyone united in the race's traditional pink colours.

It just goes to show the difficulty sporting organisations have when they opt to dip their toes into potentially challenging situations.

There certainly is a time and a place for it, but Grevemberg is probably right in opting to be very selective on what to get involved in.