Mentors available to help partners become more inclusive

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Extra Time March 2024
Mentors available to help partners become more inclusive

Mentors are now available to help support Sport Wales’ partner organisations to become more inclusive as they follow the new ‘Moving to Inclusion Framework’.

Launched last year following a review of the old ‘Equality Standard – A Framework for Sport’, the Moving to Inclusion Framework has been developed and adopted by all four Home Nation Sports Councils and UK Sport.

The starting point for any organisation looking to develop more inclusive practices is for them to complete a self-reflective diagnostic tool, which can be found on the Moving to Inclusion website.

By undertaking the process of self-reflection, organisations can identify gaps in their practices and areas of improvement across five key pillar areas: culture, leadership, relationships, experience and communications.

They will then be able to create a Continuous Improvement Plan and will be supported to find solutions to address priority areas of development.

And the FREE support package available to help partners with their continuous improvement now includes mentors.

Clare Skidmore, Governance Development Officer at Sport Wales, said: “We encourage all of our partners to engage with the new framework to drive meaningful change within the Welsh sport sector. We recognise that all organisations are different, so your starting point along your ‘inclusion journey’ will vary.

“Therefore, the self reflection exercise is the important first step to take as it will give you much better clarity over what areas you need to focus on. One organisation can’t be everything to everyone. But collectively we can all take actions to create a more inclusive sport sector.

“We’re excited that we have recently matched a number of partners with mentors who are experts in specific areas of equality, diversity, and inclusion. In some cases, the mentors are providing one-to-one support while other partners are receiving their specialist advice via group mentorship.

“We are currently inviting expressions of interest from partners who would be keen on mentoring support which is likely to begin late summer.”

To find out more about the Moving to Inclusion Framework, and to express your interest in mentoring support, please email [javascript protected email address]

Meet one of our mentors

Trevor Smith is one of the mentors who is available for partners to access. Here’s what you can expect from him and our other mentors…

"I have worked in and around sports development, leisure services management, physical education development and physical activity promotion for nearly 40 years.

"The thing I am most looking forward to about this work is the opportunity to come on this journey with you, and I will be developing and improving my own skills and awareness along the way. Nobody is ever truly an expert, and everybody can learn something from other people, so I reckon that by asking good questions of each other and exploring issues jointly, we can really get underneath the topic and understand it’s complexities. My approach will always be to support the process without judgement and without prejudice as we work together to identify hot spots and seek potential solutions.

"Whatever the circumstances, I am there as a colleague and critical friend, maybe unpicking a thorny problem, signposting you to others’ experiences, connecting you to organisations who face similar challenges and giving thoughts on possible approaches.

"The great thing about this framework is its flexibility. It is available on a 1:1 basis for an initial two days’ mentor input which increases to three days if you are working in a group, and these days can be delivered over any timescales and not required to be consecutive or intensive, it needs to work for you.

"I am excited by the Moving To Inclusion framework, it offers a truly bespoke support mechanism for us to assess our approaches and attitudes to equality, diversity and inclusion in a non-invasive manner, and to create our own interventions and actions that are achievable and relevant. This is not a “tick-box” exercise, but an evolving process following its own path, at its own pace and on its own scale. In this way it can be effective and valuable for small and large organisations. All we need is the will to make it happen."