‘Together we can go much further’ – AoS chief welcomes new national partnership

This summer saw the announcement of the Serious Change Funders Partnership. In this blog, Alliance of Sport CEO James Mapstone reflects on the new initiative and explains why this approach matters now more than ever.

The Serious Change Funders Partnership, created by four of the UK’s largest charitable funders, is a bold and much-needed new commitment to preventing children from being harmed by or drawn into violence.

Each of the funders involved – BBC Children in Need, Sport England, The National Lottery Community Fund, and Youth Endowment Fund – already supports vital work in communities across the UK. With the Alliance of Sport (AoS) having previously worked with Sport England and Youth Endowment Fund on numerous initiatives, we share this vision.

BELIEF

This partnership recognises it can go further by working together – and that belief is in our DNA. AoS was created on the simple truth that lasting change happens when we unite our strengths and act together.

Latest analysis from the Youth Justice Board shows why this new partnership is sorely needed, and why this collective approach matters more than ever:

• Diverting just 10% of children from the justice system could save £113million per annum.
• Long-term prevention isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the economically smart thing too.

I am grateful to the Youth Justice Board (YJB) – our partners on groundbreaking programmes like Levelling the Playing Field – for this powerful report, which strengthens the case for a smarter, fairer, prevention and child-first approach, and underlines the urgent need for this new investment from these national funders.

The new investment also means we are now presented with a fresh opportunity to go further, and build on the collaborative work that the AoS network has been undertaking over the last 10 years.

Central to this is a collective impact approach: listening, learning and acting together to scale what works. This approach has proved instrumental in the success of numerous projects that AoS has helped to develop and facilitate on over the past few years, including:

• The Levelling the Playing Field project (2020-2023) – funded by the London Marathon Foundation and managed by AoS, more than 100 partner organisations engaged 35,672 children and young people in sport-based interventions across four areas (London, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, and Newport, South Wales) with 63% of them ethnically diverse. The project was described it as a “beacon of hope” for vulnerable young people by YJB chair Keith Fraser, who has called on national funders to step forward and support it.
• The Youth Justice Sports Fund (2023) – a £5million fund created by the Ministry of Justice, and distributed by StreetGames in partnership with AoS and the Sport for Development Coalition to 220 trusted community organisations nationwide. Read more here.
• The Southeast Asia Sport and Youth Crime Prevention Initiative – led by a consortium coordinated by AoS, this groundbreaking new programme, which aims to build safer and more resilient communities through sport, was initiated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Agence française de développement (AFD). It is being delivered in collaboration with a wide network of national, regional and international organisations in Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

In summary, I could not agree more with Sport England’s Executive Director for Policy and Integrity, Jeanette Bain-Burnett, when she said at the launch of the Serious Change Funders Partnership that “access to sport and physical activity can be life-changing for young people, helping them build confidence, connect with others and feel a sense of belonging. For too many, especially in underserved communities, fractures and inequalities remain.”

And as Jon Yates, CEO of the Youth Endowment Fund, added: “Every child deserves to grow up safe and supported. By coming together and focusing on what works to prevent violence, we can make that hope more real. We’re proud to be part of this partnership and excited about the real, lasting change it can bring.”

I know the hundreds of specialist community organisations and partners across the AoS networks in the UK and Southeast Asia will agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments. A collective impact approach is no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it’s a ‘must have’.

With the pledge from the Serious Change Funders Partnership to bring on board more funders, AoS is looking forward to contributing – and when we look back on what has been achieved collectively, we’ll be able to say, as we always do:

#Together We Did

Read more about the Serious Change Funders Partnership. Pic credits: Youth Endowment Fund; Thru Life.