Video: Relive our Webinar on Building a Culture of Safeguarding in Sport for All
On 22 September 2026, TAFISA hosted its bi-monthly Mission 2030 webinar titled "Safe on Paper, Unsafe in Practice: Building a Culture of Safeguarding in Sport for All." The session brought together experts, lived experiences and professionals to explore the different ways organisations can move from compliance to care.
The webinar was moderated by Helena Moya, Project Advisor from TAFISA. The webinar opened with an enlightening impulse presentation delivered by Emma Thomas, Founder of Under the Ropes. She shared her experience as a survivor advocate, researcher, and consultant. Ms Thomas emphasised the importance of co-creating with survivors. She closed her presentation with a charge, encouraging organisations to lead with courage, co-creation and care.
After the Impulse presentation, Ms Moya introduced the ACTRise project to participants. ACT RISE is a capacity-building project dedicated to promoting Sport for All and physical activity, with a focus on post-conflict reconciliation, inclusion, safeguarding, gender equality, and strengthening sport organisations in the Eastern Neighbourhood of Europe. The project maps existing Sport for All policies in Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova and develops a specialised training methodology to be piloted with 200 participants in face-to-face training and over +500 participants from neighbouring countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, and Hungary. It also delivers online training, joint sport events, handbooks, and policy statements, fostering collaboration among national stakeholders to advance the Sport for All movement.
The panel discussion welcomed valuable insights from our experts, Malebo Raditladi, safeguarding consultant, Claudia Bokel from the Municipality of Dordrecht and Neal Anderson from Safe Sport International. The discussion highlighted the need for organisations to take a more proactive approach to cultivating a culture of safeguarding, simplifying reporting procedures and adjusting practices to meet the needs of participants they are meant to serve.
Anne Wambugu from Moving the Goalposts Kenya presented a case study on the safeguarding measures and systems put in place to ensure participants feel safe. She shared the use of trained peer-elected or identified safeguarders to create safe structures among participants that can be used to report and disclose concerns. Kevin Carpenter from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) shared his journey and his work with ITTF to ensure policies are fit for purpose and reporting structures are accessible and easy to use. He also encouraged the need for organisations to recognise diversity and create inclusive sport environments.
Participants had the opportunity to contribute to the webinar via Mentimeter and also ask the panellists questions.
