It has been an honour for I Trust Sport to participate as a partner in the GAMES Project (Guidance to Achieve More Equal Leadership in Sport), which recently concluded with a conference in Brussels.
The two year project, co-funded by the European Union and under the guidance of the European Olympic Committee EU Office, seeks to improve gender equality in key leadership and decision-making positions in eight participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The project has advocated making structural changes in governance, enhancing the understanding of existing cultural barriers and encouraging the NOCs to work with their member federations to create sustainable change.
I Trust Sport Founder Rowland Jack has contributed to several parts of the project, starting with the implementation and analysis of a survey in 2022 to understand the initial status of gender equality within the eight NOCs and eight or more national governing bodies in each country.
Subsequently, I Trust Sport provided consultancy support to each NOC as they developed national action plans, setting out a mission, core objectives and activities to take place over a period of two to five years.
In most cases, the plans have received official approval by the NOC leadership and are now being put into practice.
I Trust Sport has also advised on national launch events in each country and contributed to several of the written materials produced through the project. In addition, Rowland Jack has spoken at various meetings and events over the two year period.
While the GAMES Project is officially coming to an end, the implementation of the national action plans is still in its early days. The evidence shows that there is a lack of gender equality in the leadership of most types of sport organisation in most countries. Participants agreed that it will therefore be important to maintain momentum over the coming months and years.
We are grateful to the EOC EU Office for inviting I Trust Sport to be a partner in GAMES and also for carrying out successfully the challenging job of project management with partners in eight countries. Congratulations to the participants from the eight NOCs, who are doing commendable work, usually with limited resources and in the context of multiple priorities. As is the way in sport, some are also volunteers.
It has been a pleasure also to work with the other partners, Equal Rights in Sports, the International Olympic Committee and others who have made a significant contribution along the way.
For the GAMES Project website see here.
