In May, the Coalition will be participating in the Include Summit in Manchester. The Summit brings together key stakeholders working in and around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). In this article, the Coalition speaks to co-founder Jamie Hooper (pictured left with fellow co-founder Gurmej Singh Pawar).
Hi Jamie, thanks for speaking to the Coalition. Tell us about the Include Summit.
The Include Summit is two days of looking under the lid of the UK sport sector and doing a health check how we’re doing on equality, diversity, and inclusion – all done in a collaborative way. It is an uplifting and inspirational event, designed to connect people together through their passion to make a difference, and to help offer more young people vital sporting opportunities. Our ultimate mission is to help get one million underprivileged and underrepresented young people taking part in sport, with the long-term aim of transforming the sporting workforce. We believe that a more diverse sector will foster a more inclusive participation experience for everyone.
We had our first event last year in Birmingham and were overwhelmed by the positive feedback and success of the event so we’re doing it all again. This time we will be at Manchester Central, one of the UK’s largest conference and events venues. We’ll bring together key people and sports bodies all working towards achieving greater equality, diversity, and inclusion in sport. The atmosphere last year was absolutely electric with passion, enthusiasm, and determination to make a difference, and we can’t wait to get everyone together again.
Why is this event needed?
Sport participation in the UK does not reflect the population and that needs to change. The sport sector needs to better reflect modern Britain, which means greater diversity of thought in decision-making. Basically, the system needs an overhaul! There are distinct and defined inequalities in sport from grassroots to international level participation, as well as across the workforce and the boardroom. It’s been that way for a long time and that has to change otherwise the sector as a whole will become irrelevant.
The Include Summit will shine a light on the inequalities that still exist in the sector and provide the safe space to openly discuss all the key issues surrounding equality, diversity and inclusion in sport, without fear of judgement, and without politics. By sharing experiences and having open discussions we can learn from each other. You can only remove barriers if you understand where you are putting them up.
What are some of the key themes this year?
Our headline theme is on the progress of women’s sport over the last 12 months, but also addressing the issues that still exist. We will also be featuring neurodiversity throughout the agenda, and there will always be a strong link with our mission around young people’s voices and workforce diversity. As we are an EDI and sport-wide conference we will also be having discussions around a whole range of other topics too; everything from climate change and diversity, to the human rights side of hosting major sporting events, to inclusive sportswear and how we can better make EDI everyone’s responsibility. There really will be a topic for everyone. The event will feature keynote talks and plenaries, panel discussions, workshops, facilitated roundtable discussions, best practice sharing, sport activation, exhibition spaces, networking opportunities, and so much more. We will also be heavily featuring advances in sport technology, including VR, esports and the metaverse.
How have the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis affected inequalities, and the need for greater inclusion?
There’s no escaping the impact that Covid-19 and more recently, the cost of living crisis, has had on us all, and that will be a key feature of every discussion we have at the Summit this year. At the same time that every household’s disposable income has dropped, sport centres and clubs have never needed more support to continue to provide their services.
Our mission of supporting underprivileged and underrepresented young people to access sport and physical activity on their terms has never been more important, and we are delighted that the Coalition is going to be facilitating a discussion at the Summit on how sport and leisure has a role to play in supporting the most vulnerable young people in our society. This is also why we give away free tickets for young people and community leaders to attend the Summit every year. If anyone is interested in securing spaces for their young members or want to share them with your networks, please contact [email protected]
Tackling inequalities is also a key aspect of the Coalition’s #OpenGoal framework. What is your message to Coalition members about how events like this can help to drive good practice and impact for the sport for development sector?
We cannot make progress across equality, diversity and inclusion in sport unless we are all working together; together within our organisations, together with other organisations, and together with the rest of the sector. Decision-makers within organisations are the key to driving change, that’s why this year we are encouraging EDI leads within sport to #bringyourboss to be able to experience the conference, discuss challenges and ways forwards, and connect with others, together.
Our ask is that you come and join us – whether it’s for the whole two-day conference, just one day or even half a day – but vitally, we ask that you attend with your EDI lead and board and exec EDI champions. We need the help of the whole sector to achieve our mission of getting one million underprivileged and underrepresented young people taking part in sport, in order to change the system for good.
Visit includesummit.com to book your place. For more information, contact [email protected]
