Safeguarding Children in Sports Development Contexts

While sport can be a useful vehicle for achieving a range of global development targets and can help address health and socio-political issues, it can also be a site for violence and harm. All organisations offering sport and physical activity have a duty of care to safeguard children in their ranks by protecting them from harm and promoting their overarching rights to protection, safe and healthy development, and participation or “voice.” This chapter provides an overview of current knowledge on safeguarding in sport contexts. It discusses what is meant by the term “safeguarding” and highlights the prevalence of violence and harm, the profiles of those most at risk and most likely to carry out such abuses, and the consequences for those affected and for sports organisations, alongside identifying gaps in our knowledge. It goes on to discuss the measures in place to manage and prevent violence and harm, and future areas for development.