Mid-Term conference brings together more than 80 participants to discuss action

The Mid-Term Conference of the Safer Grassroots Sport project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme and coordinated by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Portugal, took place this Thursday in Lisbon, Portugal.

The meeting included the participation of partner organisations—the Olympic Committees of Slovenia and Albania, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Bulgaria, the University of Vic (Spain), Sportieq (Belgium), and Qantara Sports (Portugal)—and presented practical tools for grassroots sport clubs to develop a proactive approach to athlete protection. More than 80 participants attended online.

João Paulo Almeida, NOC Portugal’s Director General, described GRASS as “a very challenging project,” emphasizing the importance of discussing “a zero-tolerance context to create a safer environment in sports,” presenting the former athlete Angélica Kvieckzynski as an example, also present at the session.

Daniel Rhind, professor at Loughborough University in the UK and a specialist in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, delivered the keynote address titled “Safeguarding sport within communities.” He emphasized that “athlete safeguarding is never a closed matter” and must keep all stakeholders vigilant. “Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility,” not just that of specific groups, explained Rhind.

Cristina Almeida, Research and Project Department Director of NOC Portugal, contextualized the project, which runs from the beginning of 2024 until the end of 2025: “Sports provide great benefits but also involve significant risks. It’s important for clubs to be prepared to deal with situations of abuse and violence.”

One of the available tools is the Self-Assessment Instrument for grassroots sport clubs, presented by Bruno Avelar Rosa from Qantara Sports. By using this tool, users can access resources provided by the GRASS project to start making improvements in their organisations, creating a direct link between diagnosis and solutions.

Evy van Coppenolle from Sportieq clarified the functionalities of a digital tool designed to help clubs establishing a safeguarding policy for sports, structured into three levels: basic measures, intermediate steps, and a comprehensive approach. Renato Bernardino (Benedita Hoppers Club), João Diogo (Associação Desportiva de Castelo de Vide), Ana Santos (Centro de Solidariedade Social do Pinhal de Frades), Eduardo Peixinho (Clube Naval de Portimão), and Luís Rodrigues (Guimagym) were the representatives of the Portuguese participating clubs in the project, together with the clubs’ representatives from Albania, Bulgaria and Slovenia.