Safe Sport

Safeguarding

Creating a safe and welcoming environment where everyone is respected and valued is at the heart of safeguarding. Everyone involved in athletics has a role to play in actively preventing abuse, harassment or exploitation from happening to those around them in the sport.

To help achieve this, every Member Federation must have its own safeguarding policy and procedures in place by the end of 2023. World Athletics has created guidance and template documents, such as a safeguarding policy and rules, codes of conduct, flowcharts and reporting forms for Member Federations. These documents can be found below and in the Member Federation Resource Centre of the World Athletics Library.

World Athletics has also created a video called 'How to create a safeguarding policy'. This takes a look at what a safeguarding policy is and includes a step-by-step guide to producing one. The video is available with subtitles in six other languages – French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese and Russian.

Introduction in French | Spanish | Arabic | Chinese | Portuguese | Russian

Click CC icon to choose your language | Pour sélectionner la langue de votre choix, veuillez cliquer sur l’icône CC | Haz clic en el icono CC para elegir tu idioma | انقر على أيقونة CC لاختيار لغتك | 点击CC图标即可选择您的语言 | Clique no ícone CC para escolher o idioma das legendas | Нажмите на значок субтитров (CC) и выберите необходимый язык.

World Athletics Safeguarding Essentials training course

World Athletics has produced a safeguarding training course for everyone involved in athletics. It is a basic awareness training course explaining why safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. The 90-minute course (certificated) – which is open to all and free to anyone via the World Athletics e-learning platform – explains what safeguarding is and why it is important, as well as how to respond to safeguarding concerns. It is designed for anyone involved in athletics, from elite level international athletes, Member Federation officials and volunteers to grassroots club members, administrators and coaches.

Safeguarding is important for everyone to understand as everyone is responsible for creating safe, happy and positive environments in which everyone can thrive and achieve their full sporting potential. Everyone needs to understand their responsibilities and only then might it be possible to create a culture in which abuse, harassment and exploitation are not tolerated.

By taking the course we hope that more people will be aware of the importance of safeguarding and will be able to identify risks and therefore take action to reduce them, making athletics activity possible in safe, happy and supportive environments. This will help to grow and develop athletics as a sport around the world. 

At the end of the course, learners should be able to:

1. Describe what safeguarding in athletics means.
2. Recognise safeguarding risks in athletics and know how to reduce risks.
3. Understand how to report safeguarding concerns so relevant authorities can respond properly.
4. Start making plans for how to take next steps in safeguarding.

The course provides an engaging learning experience, through interactive bitesize lessons containing animated scenarios and quizzes. The content is available anytime, anywhere, and from any device, allowing users to learn at their own pace and convenience. It has been produced by the Open University, is based on the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding Essentials course and has been developed alongside a sports generic course produced by UNICEF.

The course is currently available on the World Athletics e-learning platform in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin), Arabic and Russian. Japanese is currently being developed and will be available in July 2024.

UNICEF, World Athletics and a number of other International Federations have produced two additional and more advanced safeguarding training modules, which are available now via the Open University website. These two courses are not athletics specific but have been created for those with an interest in the subject wishing to find out more and for those who are safeguarding officers or leads within their Member Federation. The courses are both available in English, with course two available in Spanish and French. Course three will be available in Spanish and French in July 2024.

Register or log in now and be part of the safeguarding movement in athletics. Together, let's create a safe, happy and positive environment for everyone in our sport.