Education

Child Protection Safe by Design: Strengthening Child Safeguarding in Sport and Events

Summary:

Sporting can amplify risks to children, and they also present powerful opportunities to strengthen child safeguarding systems that endure long after the final whistle. This session examines how cities and organizers can embed child safeguarding into governance, operations, and legacy planning using a child-rights-based approach.

Grounded in the CRSA Playbook and aligned with international standards such as the International Safeguards for Children in Sport, this session will highlight safeguarding best practices across the full event lifecycle, from planning and training to prevention, reporting, response, and accountability. The panel will provide best practice information and frame it in a way for organizations/public bodies work through issues with their legal counsel, ask questions to partners on roles and responsibilities, in advance.

Examples and tools, such as risk assessment templates will be shared to demonstrate how cross-sector collaboration and youth-informed design can reduce harm, increase trust, and set new global norms for safe, inclusive sport environments.
Intended Audience: Sports commissions, Sport governing bodies, city officials, child protection professionals, NGOs, human rights leaders, and event planners.

Key Takeaways:
• Core components of effective child safeguarding systems in sport.
• Considerations to operationalize safeguarding across complex, multi-jurisdictional events.
• Introduction to risk assessment tools and framework.