In charge of safeguarding and unsure where to start? A field report from a national federation
You have been put in charge of safeguarding in your club or federation, and you are wondering where to start. Actitude 360 knows this situation well. For several years, its founder held the role of safeguarding officer in a national federation. A policy already existed, but it was very theoretical and little had been turned into action: it needed to be brought to life, and the work started again almost from a blank page. Here are the pieces that were put in place, often in parallel, and what anyone starting out should take from them. This programme was only a beginning, and that is precisely why it can be useful to you: it shows what can be built from very little.
Contents
1. Give the programme a name and an intention
The first step was to take the existing policy and write down, in a few sentences, why the programme existed. Sport is an opportunity: it helps people stay fit, work as a team, learn to stay focused and, above all, have fun. Abusive or inappropriate behaviour can nevertheless occur and turn these moments of enjoyment into frightening and isolating experiences. The programme, named Safe Together, therefore had an objective that was simple to state: to guarantee the safety and well-being of minors and adults at risk in all activities organised under the supervision of the federation, and to support clubs in adopting best practice to protect their athletes, so that sport remains a pleasure for everyone.
The name mattered as much as the intention. "Safe Together" said that safeguarding is everyone's business, not that of a single person or a single department. This choice guided everything that followed: every tool had to allow someone else to take ownership of the subject.
What to take from this. Before any tool, you need a short text, validated by the leadership, that says who the programme is for, what it protects and what it promises. This text will become the introduction to your safeguarding policy, and it will serve as your compass every time someone asks you why you are doing all this.
2. Make it visible: the red line campaign
A programme nobody knows about protects very few people. Rather than inventing a new symbol, the choice was made to link the programme to a campaign that already existed: the red line. On the weekend of 5 and 6 April 2025, everyone involved in the sport, amateurs and professionals alike, was invited to wear a red line on their cheek during matches. This recognisable mark was the sign of a shared commitment against violence, in all its forms, in sport, and the Safe Together programme became its concrete extension.
The national teams lent their image to the campaign. Their support showed that the subject concerned everyone, from the village club to the elite, and it gave the message a reach that a single department would never have achieved.
What to take from this. A successful campaign relies on three things: a gesture anyone can make without equipment or budget, a single date that creates an appointment, and familiar faces who carry the message. And when a campaign already exists in your organisation, linking it to your programme is often better than launching a new one. You can reproduce this mechanism at the scale of a club or a federation, with your own figures.
3. Train a first circle
The federation already had a valuable asset: a group of "inclusion coaches", trained in the fight against racism and all forms of discrimination, and used to running workshops for different actors in sport. Rather than recruiting new trainers, they were invited to train in safeguarding in turn and to deliver the Safe Together training. This existing network made it possible to roll out the training very quickly, much faster than starting from scratch.
This basic training, focused on safeguarding, was designed for youth teams and their coaching staff, with the aim of raising participants' awareness. It was built on interactive questions that placed participants in concrete situations, to understand the concept of consent, recognise abusive or inappropriate behaviour, and learn how to react as a witness or a victim of such behaviour. The solutions and advice provided aimed at a safe and caring environment, where everyone can take part without fear.
What to take from this. First look for the relays that already exist in your organisation: people trained in a neighbouring subject, such as the fight against discrimination, are often ready to extend their role to safeguarding. Training trainers multiplies your reach: one person cannot raise awareness in hundreds of clubs, but they can prepare twenty people who will. And the training that sticks starts from real-life situations, not from definitions. Our 5-step toolkit explains how to organise this step in a club.
4. Reach further: the quiz and the ambassadors
The training reached those who took part in it. To go beyond that, a website was created with an interactive quiz, "Let's keep violence out of play", designed first of all for young athletes. By taking part, everyone could become an ambassador of the programme. Once the quiz was completed, participants were informed about the definition of personal boundaries and consent in sport, about the different forms of abuse and inappropriate behaviour, and about the fact that anyone, coach, athlete, staff member or parent, can be the source of abuse or inappropriate behaviour.
By accepting the proposed commitments, each ambassador promised two things: to act with kindness towards the people around them and to treat others with respect, and to seek out a trusted person in case of a problem or a concern.
What to take from this. Turning the audience into ambassadors changes the nature of the programme: young people become carriers of the message among their peers. A quiz, a commitment in a few lines and a title to display are enough to start this dynamic. Actitude 360 has created its own quiz on this model: nine situations adapted to every sport, with an explanation and a definition at each step, a commitment to tick and an ambassador title at the end. It is freely available on this site and your young people can complete it in about ten minutes.
5. Name consent
A video, in French and in Dutch, was devoted to a single subject: consent. Rather than reinventing the wheel, the team drew on what the International Olympic Committee shares with athletes about consent in sport; with its approval, a meaningful video could be produced, faithful to terms and definitions that had already proven themselves. Consent is a fundamental right and an essential part of a young athlete's journey. The message fitted into three sentences. Consent cannot be forced. It can be withdrawn at any time if you do not feel comfortable. Everyone is in charge of their own personal boundaries.
What to take from this. Choosing a single concept and repeating it everywhere is better than an exhaustive list nobody remembers. And for terms and definitions, rely on the references that already exist, such as those of international bodies: they are solid, recognised, and save you precious time. Consent is the right candidate: it concerns everyone, it can be understood at any age, and it connects naturally to the codes of conduct and to the rules on images and social media.
6. Offer a reporting point
The programme put the emphasis on prevention and encouraged everyone to talk about their concerns with a trusted person. When that was not possible, a confidential reporting point took over. This service offered support to people who needed help and made it possible to report any concern about possible abuse or inappropriate behaviour, in complete confidentiality.
What to take from this. The reporting point is the piece to put in place first, because it is the one that actually protects someone on the day they need it. It requires few resources: an identified and reachable person, a form, a written procedure for what happens next. Our template "Responding to a concern" contains both.
7. Surround yourself: a consultation group and external experts
One person alone does not carry a safeguarding programme. They need two circles around them. The first is an internal consultation group: a few people from different departments and different levels of the organisation, who meet at regular intervals to review the documents, test the tools before they are released, relay the programme in their own area and pass on what they observe in the field. This group gives the programme a legitimacy that the safeguarding lead cannot obtain alone, and it prevents safeguarding from remaining the business of a single office.
The second circle is made up of external experts. A safeguarding lead is neither an investigator, nor a psychologist, nor a lawyer, and they must know when a subject falls outside their area of competence. For those moments, the people and services who can back up a decision or take over need to have been identified in advance: an organisation specialised in child protection for serious situations, a psychologist to support victims and witnesses, a lawyer for questions of liability, image rights or criminal records, the police and youth welfare services for what falls within their remit, and the federation's ethics officer for anything relating to the sporting framework. Each of these contacts was made before a situation arose, with a clear agreement on what could be expected of them.
What to take from this. Set up your consultation group from the start, even with three people, and set a meeting rhythm. Then draw up the list of your external experts, with a name, a number and the type of situation for which you call them, and keep this list up to date in your reporting procedure. The day a situation goes beyond your competence, you will already know who to call, and you will be able to concentrate on your role: protecting the person concerned and passing the information on to the right hands. The useful numbers and services in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation are gathered in our resource centre.
8. Equip the clubs
The last piece of the programme was a toolkit for clubs, a guide designed to help them draw up and implement their own safeguarding policy: encouraging people to take responsibility, carrying out a self-evaluation of their policies and action plans, and supporting coaches, staff and volunteers in applying safeguarding measures. This toolkit was still under construction when this collaboration came to an end.
That is the work Actitude 360 took up, making it usable by any sports organisation, whatever its discipline. The result is now freely available on this site: a free self-assessment to see where your organisation stands, a five-step journey to implement a policy, and Word templates for every document a club needs.
9. Where to start, in practice
In the field, these pieces were built in parallel, as opportunities and resources allowed. With hindsight, here is the order we recommend to anyone taking charge of safeguarding in their organisation, whether a club or a federation.
- Assess where your organisation stands. Before writing anything, take stock of what already exists. The self-assessment takes a few minutes and gives you your priorities.
- Write the intention and have it validated. A few sentences on who you protect and what you promise, adopted by your committee or your board. The safeguarding policy template guides you chapter by chapter.
- Open a reporting point. An identified designated person, a form, a written procedure: this is what actually protects someone from tomorrow.
- Set the rules of the game. A code of conduct signed by coaches and athletes, a safer recruitment procedure, clear rules for changing rooms, travel and images.
- Train a first circle. The people who supervise day to day, then those who will be able to train others in turn.
- Surround yourself. A consultation group that reviews and relays, and a list of external experts ready to take over when a situation goes beyond your competence.
- Make it all visible. A symbol, a date, faces: your community must know that the programme exists and how to ask for help.
- Measure and start again. A risk assessment every year, and priorities reviewed every season.
What was built in the federation was only a beginning, and each of these steps can be taken at the scale of a club with modest means. What matters is to start with the right piece, the one that protects someone, and to build the rest around it.
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