Safeguarding and child protection

All Thematic Areas

Every day millions of people practice sports; as coaches, athletes, volunteers, referees and organizers. For most, this is a positive experience that develops social networks, confidence, skills and knowledge. For others the experience is negative.

Many clubs, organisations, funding bodies and governments have paid very little attention to the protection of children and vulnerable people in sport for a considerable period of time. The most common reactions are that it's not happening, it's someone else's responsibility, or it's an isolated incident. These three attitudes are usually classified as:

Denial
Blame
Minimization

These typical responses leave children, coaches, clubs, sporting bodies, funding bodies and governments isolated, vulnerable and, in the long term, severely affected.

Safeguarding can help prevent and respond to incidents of intended or accidental harm to participants. Safeguarding practices, procedures and policies help ensure that effective policies, practices and procedures are in place to limit harm, as well as measures to report, investigate and address suspicions and incidents.

This section is designed to provide more information on safeguarding and connect you with the tools you need to develop and implement a safeguarding culture for your programme or organisation, including practices, procedures and policies. These practices, procedures and policies help everyone participating in the sport and programmes to remain safe, have fun and learn.