ANNE TIIVAS, OBE
"Sport should provide a safe, inclusive, and enjoyable environment for everyone participating, in any role and at any age."
Meet Anne, Chair of Trustees for Safe Sport International and Programme Director for the International Olympic Committee – IOC Safeguarding Course. She is passionate about sport and safeguarding all its participants. Anne’s career has been dedicated to safeguarding children and adults in both statutory and charity sectors, with the last 23 years spent leading safeguarding developments within and through sport.
INFLUENTIAL SPORT EXPERIENCES
"Throwing the cricket ball at the County Games 50 years ago positively influenced my perceptions of sport. My dad had been a javelin thrower, so I grew up being good at throwing things! Seeing so much of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in person (and the preceding School Games test events, where safeguarding was embedded in the planning) was amazing. 2012 was an incredible year, which also saw the first steps towards developing the International Safeguards for Children in Sport through the Beyond Sport Summit."
CELIA BRACKENRIDGE’S LEGACY
"The late Professor Celia Brackenridge OBE was the world's leading researcher, safe sport advocate, and feminist. Celia was a former elite athlete and a champion for women's sport, equity, and equality. She supported so many of us in developing our approaches to creating safe sport environments. She was the founding President of Safe Sport International, the UK-based international charity that I took over from her. Without her, we would be at least 10 years behind in this work. She always centred the voices of athletes, especially those with lived experiences of abuse in sport."
COLLABORATION IS KEY IN SAFEGUARDING
“Sport should provide a safe, inclusive and enjoyable environment for everyone participating, in any role, at any age. In order to achieve this we all need to work together with shared values and principles. Working collaboratively is not always easy but we always have to ask, how does what we do benefit those we are there to serve? This work is not easy. I have always advocated for the need for a multi-agency approach to safeguarding and protecting children and adults. I believe I have championed the voices of those who work in often unsung roles but who understand the needs of those made most vulnerable by failures to meet their needs. There should be no hierarchy between professions if we are working together.”
HOW CAN WE ENSURE MORE DIVERSE REPRESENTATION IN DECISION-MAKING?
"From a safeguarding perspective, decision-making processes should be informed by the experiences of, and ideally co-created with, affected persons. Reviews of policy and practice should follow the same approach. Actively promoting the organisation's commitment to diversity, advertising for diverse talent, and offering mentoring, learning opportunities, and support for decision-making roles are highly effective in ensuring diverse representation in decision-making."
NAVIGATING SPORT GOVERNANCE
“My organisation is a registered charity so we are both bound by Charity Commission regulation and supported by its guidance and updates. Every trustee has equal responsibility for the decisions we take, and we have clear roles defined for trustees, our COO, partners and associates. Having clear Standards for safeguarding is critical. We are pioneers of the International Safeguards for Children in Sport and launched the International Safeguards for Adults in Sport last year. These include the governance requirements that need to be in place for effective safeguarding. We support the capacity of sports organisations to incorporate safeguarding requirements into their governance structures through education, training, consultancy and advice.”
"An important policy introduced by the Sports Councils was the development of the UK Code for Sport Governance, which includes audits to ensure compliance with both the Standards for Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sport and the Safeguarding Adults Framework for funded sports. While this leaves a gap in protections for non-funded sports, the majority of sporting activity is effectively covered."
ADVICE FOR ENTERING THE SPORTS INDUSTRY
“You can fulfil your potential in the sports industry. Find your allies. Create your own network of care. Always be open to new ideas. Be generous with your time for other women who need your advice. We can create safe sporting environments for everyone - and high performance sport will benefit from even more focus on creating environments based on best research and lived experience. Don't be afraid to ask for help .”
SAFE SPORT INTERNATIONAL
Safe Sport International (SSI) is a global network dedicated to ending abuse, violence, and harassment in sports environments. Focused on safeguarding athletes, SSI promotes international standards, provides education, and offers consultancy services to organisations worldwide. By integrating research and athlete voices, it aims to create safe, inclusive spaces for everyone involved in sports.
To learn more about safeguarding in sport, join the Global Safe Sport Conference 2024 online from 9th-10th December. The theme, Parks + Podiums, will focus on the lessons learned from 2024 for making sport safer for everyone, everywhere.
