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Participation and diversity

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Participation and diversity in sport

German Sports Youth sees participation and diversity as a dynamic process that ensures that everyone in the various structures of society participates autonomously and on an equal footing. It considers diversity, and the diversity of all the limitations, to be an enrichment. 
 
In the area of participation and diversity, German Sports Youth shows that sport is varied and has an integrative and inclusive power that connects all kinds of people. “Participation and diversity” stands for a broad understanding of inclusion that recognises and appreciates the diversity of all people and makes it possible for all children and teenagers to participate in sports clubs and groups.  
 
Sport, games and physical activity have the potential of appealing to all children and teenagers with a low threshold, and of promoting diversity. Wherever participation and diversity are successfully practised, people treat one another with tolerance and respect and interact together in a variety of ways in sport and in their daily lives. Everyone can learn from and with one another.

Recommendations for action

The recommendations for action in the area of “participation and diversity (inclusion)” are intended to provide a guiding framework for dsj member organisations who want to do as much as they can to put inclusion in children’s and youth sport into practice in their association and their subdivisions and to inject some life into this topic. 

Guiding principle

To ensure that the topic of inclusion is implemented and perpetuated with a lasting effect and independently of individual persons, it is necessary to explicitly include the topic in the relevant statutes and regulations as a goal and purpose of the activities of the respective organisation. This may, for example, be achieved with a more general wording under the keywords “participation” and “securing diversity”, as well as under the keyword “inclusion”. 

Responsibility of office holders in the area of participation

The respective management board bears responsibility for implementing a topic such as participation and diversity (inclusion) and introduces the necessary steps mentioned above under “Guiding principle”. For an active implementation with a lasting effect, it is sensible to appoint appropriately qualified people as contacts with a responsibility for this topic area. This responsibility should relate to the realisation of a “participation management system”, which involves addressing the subject, training, and the networking of all the actors. This takes place with close links between the activities of the contacts and the respective management board/steering committee. This should include regular reports on how the topic of inclusion is being put into practice in the respective organisation, in the spirit of quality assurance. Previous steps and measures can be identified and prospects for further action demonstrated.  

Training office holders and disseminators

The successful implementation and perpetuation of a topic is largely dependent on human, temporal and financial resources. A distinction must also be made between the people who create the framework (these are generally the office holders or the contacts) and those who design programmes (generally trainers, coaches or youth leaders). An organisation must decide for itself, on the basis of its resources, how it will adapt existing programmes to its respective needs and requirements or develop new formats. This includes, for example, the decision to convey the topic of inclusion through consultations and further training, to incorporate it into the training formats of the respective club/association or to pursue a hybrid of the two strategies. For quality assurance purposes and to ensure that the topic of inclusion is implemented and sustainably anchored in children’s and youth sport, it is important to create programmes (training courses, network meetings, etc.) and to make them available to the member organisations. In order to be able to achieve this, it will be necessary to employ financial and human resources. 

Sharing experiences and information

Networking of the actors – The dsj member organisations are generally also umbrellas for their own member organisations. Therefore, it is important to ensure that information is also shared between the actors in the respective member organisations. Networking, experience sharing and the provision of impetus in the area of participation and diversity can also be promoted by targeted events such as network meetings, conferences and congresses.  

Partnerships – It is helpful to obtain expertise about the topic of inclusion from people and institutions within and outside not-for-profit (children’s and youth) sport. These include, for example, institutions from other areas of child and youth welfare, self-help or assistance for people with disabilities, special needs schools or academia. In the spirit of successful benchmarking, it is also advisable to watch how other youth organisations address the topic.  

Communication – It is important for organised children’s and youth sport to show that its structures and programmes are open to young people with and without disabilities. In this context, it is necessary to develop a welcoming culture that not only exists in communications and in the manner in which the available programmes are presented, but is also practised by all the actors involved. This includes a practised culture of active self-empowerment to take part, co-determination and participation of all the actors involved. It may be helpful to actively visit the places and institutions where people with disabilities are organised. It is important to collectively be in dialogue with people with disabilities and to step up the communication processes in the spirit of a top-down and bottom-up process. The exchange of ideas within not-for-profit, organised children’s and youth sport must be intensified and encouraged in order to clarify the needs on the one hand, and the goals and requirements on the other hand. This is the only way to (further) develop programmes and put them into practice. When choosing the means of communication, is important to ensure that these are universally accessible.  

Children’s and youth sport programmes – courage to be flexible

Playing, exercising and doing sport together breaks down barriers and reserve. This potential should be harnessed in children’s and youth sport, especially for the empowerment and personal development of young people with and without disabilities on the basis of joint activity on an equal footing. It is frequently sufficient to regard standardised forms of games and exercises as flexible, for example in terms of the “pitch”, the “playing materials” or the “type of exercise”, and to make small changes. Modifications to educational programmes are also possible, for example with regard to the selection and communication of methods. The important thing is to develop and practise a basic didactic approach, make flexibility possible, and ensure that people with disabilities can participate. 

Girls and young women in sport

[Translate to Englisch:] Werbebanner zur Aktion mit zwei jungen Sportlerinnen

In 2020, dsj signed a marketing cooperation agreement with Procter & Gamble. This stipulated that German Sports Youth would receive 10 cents for funding “girls’ sports camps” in Germany for every Always product bought at ROSSMANN between 10 and 30 August 2020. By funding “girls’ sports camps”, dsj wants to boost the self-confidence of girls and young women, motivate them and break down “barriers” for girls and young women in sport.  The member organisations have demonstrated great creativity in putting this into practise, and offered in-person, digital and hybrid formats, in spite of the coronavirus pandemic. In the first year of funding, 2021, dsj was able to fund eight camps across Germany. In the current year, 2022, another 14 camps were approved, which will be realised in the course of the year. 

Inclusion

[Translate to Englisch:] ein Junge und Mädchen mit Down-Syndrom lächeln sich zu

Thanks to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, there is not just a legislative basis for inclusion, but a global agreement on the subject. It motivates us to act and to continue our work in this area. The aim is to create a society in which people with disabilities can participate autonomously and on an equal footing. Sport can contribute a lot to this social process, as a low-threshold medium. Even if the activities are still varied, not-for-profit and organised children’s and youth sport is active, committed and provides assistance.