The kick-off meeting of the new Erasmus+ project SAFE – safeguarding approaches focusing on grassroots sport environment took place on 18–19 March 2026 in Brussels, Belgium. Hosted by the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO) all partners gathered together in person for the first time to start the project, exchange expertise and agree on management, coordination and communication strategies.
A key part of the meeting was a presentation on an app-supported low-barrier approach to educate about safeguarding by one of the project partners, Gamechanger. The microlearning tool will play an important role in the development of a pilot program that enables training and education in grassroots sport organizations. In the SAFE project, the EOA will take over the leading role in setting up said pilot program.
SAFE will tie in with EOA´s ongoing efforts in safeguarding projects on the European level such as BESST. The EOA representatives used the opportunity to inform about BESST´s new innovative approaches such as the use of Virtual Reality. For SAFE, comparative analysis, surveys and interviews will provide deeper insights into the perception of integrity and safeguarding, its challenges and good practices on the grassroots level.
The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme and represents a collaborative effort of 13 partners from all across Europe, including ENGSO, Sportieq, Finlands Svenska Idrott (FSI), EuroHockey and the European Olympic Academies. EOA was represented both online by EOA´s project managers Soenke Schadwinkel and on site in Brussels by Dominik Hillebrecht, who recently joined EOA´s head office. With the initiative, the partners underline their commitment to strengthening safeguarding as a core value in sport.
