Integrated Approach for the Prevention, Detection and Combat of Sexual Harassment in Sports

Background Despite the European Commission’s efforts, since 2007, the concept of ‘gender-based violence in sport’ is not well known in the EU Member States, although certain forms of violence that fall within the definition of gender-based violence in sport are recognized and addressed in some countries.The ISports project addresses the cross-border, Union-wide challenge of preventing, detecting and combatting sexual harassment in sports and strongly contributes to the respect of the EU founding principles Objectives The project's main objective was to develop a holistic approach for the protection of young athletes from any form of sexual harassment, empowering sport professionals, athletes and sport clubs towards sexual harassment detection, prevention, and combat in 4 EU Member States and Turkey, through activities that address gaps in policy and service provision; support the capacity building of and raise awareness among sport professionals, athletes; put in place sustainable mechanisms for support. Implementation For the successful implementation of the ISports project, the partners have structured the project in five distinct work packages-activities: 1: Project Management (University of Thessaly), 2: Quality Assurance, Evaluation and Impact Assessment (SDK), 3: Dissemination (L’ ORMA) and exploitation (EO.PE) 4: Open Data Management and Data Protection (Helping Hand), 5: ISports Policy Briefs and Recommendations (Champions Factory), along with the organisation of Multiplier Events and Seminars. Achievements The project managed to have a wide outreach to the target groups through all of its activities, with more than 600 learners having enrolled to the ISports MOOC, 228 athletes and professionals taking part in the training seminars, 100 policymakers reached through the policy briefs -recommendations, and 140 people reached through the multiplier events. Furthermore, it has created sustainable and transferrable tools such as the MOOC platform and Integrated Mechanism, and key policy recommendations