Written by Tim Hollingsworth
CEO of Sport England
This Friday, along with my Sport Council CEO colleagues and a number of other speakers, I will be contributing to Time for Action: Tackling Racism in Sport, a timely and important conference for the sport and physical activity sector. is.
It has been more than two years since the four home country sports councils and UK Sport published the findings and recommendations of the Tackling Racism and Racial Inequalities in Sport (TRARIIS) review.
This has revealed an unprecedented picture of the reality of racism across the sports world and its impact on participation and success. While we believe that progress has been made in addressing some of the deep-seated issues identified in this research, we know there is still much work to do and this week's events in Leicester will help us It gives us an opportunity to come together and move things forward.
I will be joining hundreds of others from across the world of sport (both in person and online) to talk about Sport England's ongoing work in this area and to encourage others to drive real change. I plan on hearing other people's opinions on what can be done.
I look forward to hearing good practice and discussing some of the obstacles our partners face in implementing the changes needed to become anti-racist.
We also hope to hear from people who are frustrated by the speed of change, and we understand their impatience. For me, a key element of the conference is recognizing that warm words and positive intentions are no longer enough, we need concrete actions to back them up.
We therefore hope that the decision-makers attending will leave the event with a clearer understanding of our commitment to TRARIIS and the practical tools to take action within their organizations.
This is not a challenge that can be tackled alone. If we are sincere and serious about our desire to make an impact, we need engagement from across the sector.
What Sport England has achieved
Tackling racism and racial inequality remains a challenge of great importance to us. This is central to the movement's unified strategy and efforts to address inequalities in sport, where racial inequality remains prevalent.
To that end, here are some of the recent efforts we are taking.
Increasing diversity in leadership
We will invest up to £5 million over five years in our Leading the Movement program to help current and emerging leaders address role inequality.
We will specifically support emerging leaders from more diverse backgrounds, with the aim of developing and retaining leaders from underrepresented groups.
While we know there is more work to do to support recruitment into CEO and board roles, we consider leaders at all levels. Anyone who can bring about the cultural and structural changes we need is a leader.
We have also extended our partnership with recruitment specialist Perrett Laver for 12 months to continue developing a network of talented and diverse executive candidates for our funded organizations.
We currently have 318 members, 63 of whom have been appointed to the board, and over 50% of the network is from culturally diverse backgrounds.
And we will continue to work closely with our equality partner Sporting Equals to tackle racial bias, discrimination and lack of representation.
We support Leaderboard Academy. The program is designed to equip culturally diverse individuals with exceptional skills to influence and promote equality, diversity and inclusion in sport, whether in leadership or board-related capacities. This is a unique program.
Aiming to achieve a more equal representation of underrepresented groups in sports leadership, we are now shortlisted for the second round of nominations.
Diversifying the talent pool
We have increased funding for the East London Sports Talent Pathway, which aims to diversify the regional and national talent pool in sport.
The additional investment has allowed Innovative Pathways to expand its involvement with local clubs and schools.
These collaborations have further deepened our understanding and appreciation of the diverse backgrounds and experiences our athletes bring to the table.
Work with organizations you can trust
We continue to invest in a variety of organizations, including the Black Swimming Association and the Muslim Sports Foundation, to help us understand and respond to the needs of culturally diverse communities who wish to participate in sport and physical activity. We are getting closer to being compatible.
Importantly, we are committed to continuing our collaboration with the TRARIIS Advisory Group, a small group of trusted experts with lived experience who help us make the right choices and decisions. is.
This includes working with us to co-design Sport England and UK Sport’s anti-racist Inclusion by Design framework, which will be rolled out across our work and investment in 2024. It is scheduled to begin rolling out.
lead by example
Our internal diversity and inclusion action plan is currently being updated for 2024 and will be published in the coming weeks.
An outsourced race provision governance review was completed last year. It has provided valuable insights that we have discussed and our actions are ongoing.
