Inclusion at the heart of sport practice

From 2-4 October, an INTERACT + conference and training programme was hosted by FISU at their Lausanne headquarters, with a focus on “Sport for All as a key to achieve sustainable development goals”.

Everyone and anyone should be able to have access to sport and physical activity and to enjoy it without suffering any prejudice. This seems evident, but in reality it isn’t. So many factors prevent people from being able to move freely and with pleasure. Sport for All contributes to the

Discussing Sport for All – its definitions, its related programmes, its best practices – and the role of international sports federation in developing such activities, as well as training their representatives to do so was the main aim of the INTERACT+ Conference and workshops held at the FISU headquarters in Lausanne.

(International and European Sport Organisations Activating Citizens Plus) is a project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. that focuses on inclusive and inspiring sport for all.

The event was divided into two parts: first a plenary session with presentations by Fernando Parente, Director of Development and Healthy Campus at FISU (the International University Sports Federation) and by Rachel Mait, Project Impact Manager at , and a panel during which representatives from several International Sports Federations presented the programmes they have put in place to open the practice of their sport to as many people as possible and then workshops designed to empower the participants.

Three day conference at synathlon building

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Best practices, target groups, toolkits and a certification

INTERACT+ (whose partners are TAFISA, FISU, University of Limerick, World Minigolf Federation, World Dance Organisation, International Table Tennis Federation Foundation, International Fistball Association, Confederazione Boccistica Internazionale, European Flying Disc Federation) is building on the tools and resources gathered by its predecessor project, INTERACT, to support international sports organisation in developing sport for all activities. They can already find an online forum in which they can share ideas and support each other, which was opened in October 2023.

But now, a brand new Sport For All certification platform, which will include best practices, is about to be launched. It will deliver the INTERACT+ Label to reward and recognise International Sports Organisations and National Federations that develop Sport for All and incentivise those that do not do enough to take action.

Capacity-building workshops

Having gained an invaluable insight on how to better implement Sport for All within their organisations, participants of the INTERACT+ capacity-building workshop received certificates. The sports organisations represented include the International University Sports Federation, International Field Archery Association, Ju-Jitsu International Federation, World Flying Disc Federation, International Dance Organisation, World Kettlebell Sport Federation and Swiss Active Workers Federation.
 

Written by Thérèse Courvoisier, photos by Eddy Flahaut.