Background 

The project is based on the well-recognised benefits that sport activities exercise on children. Many researches at the international levels have shown how doing sport provides children not just with physical well-being, but it is also an important factor on children’s psychological and social development. 

Despite these aspects being well recognized, the sport environment sometimes exposes minors to the risks of various forms of violence. 

Aim of the project

 • Safeguard children playing sport by building the capacity of organizations, clubs and schools to create their own policy and procedures improving the environment within which sport trainings and competitions are delivered at the grassroots level; 

• collect practices (measures, tools and standards) tested in the sport field in Europe and beyond to create a safe environment for children doing sport;

 • create and test guidelines helping organizations, schools and clubs to develop policies and procedures based on the same values and standard and aiming to grant children safeguard in sport at the grassroots level; 

• enhance the partner’s network and put the the basis for a broader network of subjects involved in the sport field and committed to the implementation of the measures identified. 

General plan of the project 

To achieve these goals the partners will start their work by researching and collecting good practices in their countries and in Europe, identifying quality standards and concrete measures implemented by the sport clubs, associations and schools. Measures and standards identified will be collected and serves to create guidelines that will be tested by the partners in their own countries. 

The result of the testing phase will be collected and evaluated and will be functional to produce a common guidelines supporting associations, clubs and schools to develop policies and procedures on children safeguard in the sport field at the grassroots level, preserving physical and emotional health. 

A final event will serve to present the final products to sport actors. The event will have a double purpose: 

a) to raise awareness on the risk to which children are exposed in the sport field at grassroots level, a situation often underestimated (please refer to the genuine needs analysis below). 

b) To disseminate the project results: the guidelines, as tool building the capacity of clubs, associations and schools to develop policies and procedures according to their context but referred to common values and standards.