The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games were acknowledged as being successful, inclusive and exciting. It was hoped that their success would inspire more people to participate in sport and other activities and achieve a range of positive social outcomes, including those that lacked social support, had limited access to transportation and good facilities or lived in unsafe neighbourhoods with poor health outcomes.

Once the dust had settled it became clear that a new national sports strategy was required to ensure that the aspirations of the most disadvantaged young people and the neighbourhoods they live in were realised. A strategy that used sport as a force for social good, where success was not measured by numbers alone and participation was seen as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. And a strategy where investment was made in the right delivery agencies, those that can improve the lives of people living in the most disadvantaged communities, urban and rural, and provide evidence of their achievements.

This conference will be the first opportunity to debate these and other issues before this new national sports strategy is published. It will hear from many of the key figures involved including Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sport England and Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust and architect of the successful GB Olympic Team

It will also hear from Guardian Chief Sports Correspondent, Owen Gibson and Shadow Home Secretary, Andy Burnham about the opportunities and challenges faced by sport, education and health professionals in a country recovering from the longest depression since the 1930’s.

Other contributors include Joe Tuke, Director of the Troubled Families Team and Public Sector Reform at the Department of Communities and Local Government on new payment by results approaches, Sir Stuart Etherington on opportunities for the voluntary and charitable sectors and Joanne Adams on how sports governing bodies can rise to the challenges. Finally, it will hear from Substance Chief Executive, Tim Crabbe on how we intend to respond to any new strategic thinking.

It is a must attend event for professionals working in the sport for development sector and wanting to ensure they remain ahead of the curve in understanding sport and social policy issues.

The Workshops

Street Games: Youth Health Champions

The national charity StreetGames supports thousands of young people living in disadvantaged areas throughout the UK by bringing doorstep sport into the heart of their communities. Their Youth Health Champions programme, which grew out of Public Health England’s Youth Health Movement, encourages young people to become volunteer mentors, leading sessions which focus on improving physical and mental health within their own peer groups.  The approach has adapted learning from other community-based interventions and can be delivered relatively inexpensively, and is therefore seen as an attractive proposition to Public Health Authorities.

This workshop will be particularly relevant to Public Health Authorities, sport and health charities and voluntary sector organisations and funders.

Delivered by Paul Jarvis-Beesley, StreetGames.

Brentford Community Sports Trust, Sport Impact & Mo Farah foundation

This workshop will focus on the Motivate Hounslow project funded by Sport England’s Community Sport Activation Fund, with matched support from local partners, the Mo Farah Foundation and Sport Impact. The project works in the most socially disadvantaged wards in Hounslow and aims to inspire regular sports participation amongst males and females aged 14 – 25. Three part time Motivators, hosted by the partner organisations are creating a multi-sport activity network in a range of locations including local parks, community centres, schools and local play areas. The project has produced a first cohort of Sports Leaders through a Coach Mentoring Programme which will ensure sustainability long after the initial funding ceases.

This workshop will be of particular interest to organisations wishing to access funding to increase participation, learn more about working in mutually beneficial partnerships and setting up leadership and mentoring programmes.

Delivered by Lee Doyle, Brentford Sports Trust and Alan Watkinson, Sport Impact Director and mentor to Mo Farah, Jerome Albarus, Mo Farah Foundation, Neil Young, Project Manager Motivate Hounslow and Kim Creamer, Operations Manager, Mo Farah Foundation

MacMillan Cancer Support: ACE Programme

Being physically activity has been shown to have multiple benefits for people living with cancer. Despite this only 23% of those affected are active to the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended levels and 31% are completely inactive. Training does not exist within the UK on how to deliver very brief advice to increase physical activity amongst people affected by cancer.

Using an evidenced based approach, Macmillan has developed a training intervention to increase the frequency of delivery of very brief advice on physical activity to people affected by cancer. The feasibility, acceptability, implementation and limited efficacy of this intervention are under testing following a robust research approach.

This workshop will describe the approach taken to develop the training intervention, the research protocol including the interim results, and the plans for a pilot randomised control trial on the impact on physical activity levels of people affected by cancer.

This workshop will be of particular interest to Public Health Authority staff and Clinical Commissioning Groups as well as sports and health organisations delivering activity based programmes. It will also be of interest to researchers working in the field of public health and community sport.

Delivered by Justin Webb, Macmillan Physical Activity Engagement Manager.

London Playing Fields Foundation

The London Playing Fields Foundation have a vision to create a happier, healthier, more cohesive capital city by encouraging more people to play sport on affordable, accessible and attractive playing fields. In order to do this the Foundation has commissioned research to demonstrate the impact and cost savings that can be attributed to well managed facilities that attract a wide range of user groups and individuals.

This workshop will demonstrate the difference that the Douglas Eyre Sports Centre, one of their sites in east London, is making to those who use it. It will describe the long term strategy which has been developed over the last twenty five years to increase participation in sport as well as deliver social change which has generated this impact.

This workshop will be particularly interesting to facility managers and planning officials in local authorities as well as sports organisations working with communities wishing to protect playing fields. It will also be valuable for sports organisations wanting to understand how to support people with significant mental health problems to get their lives back on track through reference to their Coping Through Football programme.

Delivered by Alex Welsh, London Playing Fields Foundation

Newport Live & Positive Youth Foundation

The Positive Youth Foundation, Coventry and Newport Live, south Wales are social enterprises that grew out of the Home Office national Positive Futures programme which sought to reduce youth crime and substance misuse in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods across England and Wales. Having previously been based within local authority departments both organisations have successfully demonstrated to a range of funders, including Police and Crime Commissioners that they have the knowledge and skills to deliver the outcomes and impact demanded by new commissioning arrangements.

This session will provide an insight into how each organisations established themselves as a social enterprise met the challenges of new funders and have continued to grow and develop to become a critical partner in delivering local community safety strategies.

The workshop will be particularly relevant to local authorities looking at ‘spinning out’ services, or front line delivery organisations seeking to grow their range of services in the criminal justice sector.

Delivered by Lucy Donovan, Newport Live and Rashid Bhayat, Positive Youth Foundation.

Tottenham Hotspur Foundation

This workshop will look at the work undertaken during 2014 at the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation as they embarked on a journey to better understand the impact and value of their work.  Set within the national context of the move towards evidence based practice, payment by results contracts and changes to the way Local Authorities procure contracts, their objective was to provide compelling evidence of the impact and value of the programmes in order to grow their services in Haringey and Enfield and help deliver the regeneration plans linked to their new stadium development.

This workshop will describe the process undertaken, the production of a new outcomes framework for the organisation, explain how this has been implemented and how it is now contributing to a further expansion of services in the most disadvantaged wards in east Haringey and south Enfield.

This workshop will be particularly important to those seeking to grow their range of services and demonstrate impact to existing and potential funders and commissioners and those wishing to develop an evaluation framework for their organisation.

Delivered by Nikki Kelly, Tottenham Hotspur Foundation

Edge Hill University & Everton in the Community

In this workshop, Everton in the Community and the Department of Sport and Physical Activity at Edge Hill University, UK, will report on their collaborative work which seeks to promote mental health and reduce the stigma of mental illness among different population groups who participate in a range of sport based community programmes. The presentation will report, in particular, on research conducted with men, families and young people throughout Merseyside and consider how lessons can be learnt and best practice shared by others with an interest in promoting mental health via sports-based community programmes. The workshop will explore the opportunities and challenges of working in the field, of undertaking research in complex community programmes, and the importance of programme design and developing positive relationships between participants, mentors and project workers.

This workshop will be particularly interesting for sport and health organisations seeking to work together to improve mental health and well-being and for academics conducting research in community based settings.

Delivered by Professor Andy Smith, Edge Hill University and Johnnie Garside, Everton in the Community

Get Active Hounslow & Brunel University

The landscape for sport is changing and in order to meet this new challenge voluntary and charitable sector organisations must be able to adapt to the new priorities that are emerging from policy agendas. ‘Sport for health, health for sport’ will demonstrate how sport can be used as a powerful tool to address the public health agenda. The workshop will explore the politics of a sport and health partnership whilst presenting practical examples from the ongoing Brunel University London Health and Sport Engagement project which is looking at the most effective ways to demonstrate the impact of community based projects and how evaluation can be used most effectively.

This workshop will be particularly interesting to Public Health Authority staff and social researchers working in the sport and health field. It will be also be important for voluntary and charitable sector organisations delivering community based projects seeking to improve physical and mental health, in order to understand the current priorities of Public Health Authorities.

Delivered by Marianne Boyle, Hounslow Public Health Authority and Dr Louise Mansfield, Brunel University

For more information or to book follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/substance-national-conference-sport-for-development-a-whole-new-ball-game-tickets-17304560406