Safe Spaces
Sport can play a valuable role in the well-being and development of adolescent girls; however, if safety and inclusion are not at the centre of your programme design, development and implementation, your programmes risk causing more harm than good.
This section will explain the importance of safeguarding in designing sport programmes for girls, discuss the unique safety risks and challenges when working with girls and sport, and provide practical tools and guidance on implementing safe programming.
Priorities and Risks
From the moment your organisation starts to think about designing and implementing a sport programme for girls, safeguarding should be at the centre of every decision made in the process. There is an inherent risk in achieving social change; your organisation should commit to reducing these risks and identifying what priority areas to address safeguarding in your programme design and in your organisation more broadly. For more information on the responsibility of the sport for development sector in creating “safe spaces”, please read Women Win’s Safe Spaces in Sport: Getting to the Starting Line.
Safeguarding Policies and Procedures
There are the various safeguarding policies and procedures that you should have in place to ensure the safety and well-being of your participants, coaches, and staff. You can learn more about what these policies are and access some examples on this page.
Creating Safe Spaces
Everyone involved in your organisation has the responsibility to ensure girls feel emotionally secure and comfortable within their sport environment, and protected from physical harm. You can access guidance on how to create safe spaces in this infographic download below.
Drawing the Line
The primary way to understand how to create safe spaces for girls is to ask them! Including the voices of girls in defining safety and understanding their priorities is a key part of implementing safe sport programming.
Drawing the Line is a card game that follows a play-based and participatory approach to better understand the level of safeguarding and inclusion in programmes through the perspective of the programme participants. The tool is intended for girls in your programme, but it can also be used with coaches, volunteers, or administrators as a way to gather other viewpoints on the safety and inclusivity of programmes. Explore the sample online version below:
