Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program

Sport plays a significant role in our communities, it improves the physical and mental wellbeing of all that participate regardless of age, ability, background or gender. It promotes a sense of belonging, enhancing social connectivity, inclusion and the building of long-term friendships.

Watch our video about the program

About the program

The SISCIP is designed to help sporting organisations build their capability to provide safe environments for children, young people and all members to participate in sport.

This includes protecting them from abuse, providing safe and inclusive experiences and highlighting that safeguarding is the responsibility of everyone involved in sport. The SISCIP is underpinned by the National Integrity Framework (NIF) and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (National Principles).

By working through this program, it can assist National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) and National Sporting Organisations for People with a Disability (NSODs) to meet their state and territory child safeguarding compliance requirements.

Child safety and member protection culture

The program aims to embed a culture of child safety and member protection by:

• Building the capability of NSOs and NSODs to keep children, young people and members safe.
• Leading a cultural shift that prioritises the safety of children, young people and members.
• Enhancing knowledge and understanding to respond to child abuse threats.
• Bolstering community confidence that sports are safe for children, young people and members.
• Enabling sports to demonstrate their commitment and leadership in safeguarding to all members at all levels of sport.

Program benefits

There are many benefits to signing up to the program:

• Creating safe sporting environments so that every child, young person, and member can feel and be safe when participating in sport.
• Advocating a nationally consistent approach to safeguarding in sport.
• Promoting best practice child safeguarding to align with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. assisting sporting organisations to meet legislative and regulatory requirements, such as state/territory-based Child Safe Standards.
• Providing a mechanism for sport to assess their maturity in child safeguarding and member protection practices and processes.
• Working collaboratively with sports to develop a fit for purpose tailored Safeguarding Risk Action Plan that helps to meet their identified risks and needs.
• Sports identifying high risk areas and implementing strategies and actions to minimise and manage these areas with the support and guidance of Sport Integrity Australia.
• Collaborating with and guiding sports to continuously improve and progress its child safeguarding and member protection practices and processes.

Structure of the program

The program is structured so that the sport will continually assess and improve their safeguarding practices and processes. Once signed up, sports will complete an online safeguarding self-assessment based on the 10 National Principles.

This self-assessment will be made available to sports to complete on an annual basis so that they can identify where improvements have been made and where further work is required.

Snapshot of the program

• The program is voluntary.
• The sport signs up to the program.
• Your sport completes an online safeguarding self-assessment.
• A Sport Integrity Australia Safeguarding team member/s will meet with your sport to review your safeguarding practices and processes and will follow this up with an assessment report.
• The assessment report will be utilised to support your sport to develop a Safeguarding Risk Action Plan.

Take the lead and find out more

Contact the Safeguarding team to find out more about the program by emailing: safeguarding@sportintegrity.gov.au