We’ve found there are many valuable lessons to be learned from studying a different approach, so skills sharing is something StreetGames has been involved with and will continue to do. Other countries do some things better than us, but similarly we have strong points to share, particularly regarding inclusion.

AUSTRIA AND SPAIN
Our first project worked with four partners in Austria and Spain on the development of youth leaders. One key learning point was that whereas in the UK coaches specialise in a chosen sport early on, overseas they can’t specialise until they’ve done a great deal of training in the fundamentals of movement.

EUROPEAN PARTNERSHIP
Our current project started in July 2015 and will continue until December 2017. We’re working with partners in Germany, Sweden and Poland to co-write six training modules to develop youth leaders with a European angle. This is the first time our training standards will be recognised across Europe.

Most of the people we work with don’t have the opportunity to do a European exchange or go on holiday, but we want to give them the skills and confidence to organise exchanges in their capacity as youth leaders. Added to this, we’re discussing other themes which are common to all partners, such as girls’ empowerment and getting the inactive active.

It’s been straightforward to set up the skills sharing projects. Initially we were contacted by an organisation from Austria called Sport Tirol, who found us on Google and do similar work. We’ve since built up more European contacts by attending conferences organised by the International Sports and Culture Association.

The main challenge is finance: we got Erasmus funding and I wouldn’t underestimate the paperwork for European funding. Other than that, it’s just dealing with different time zones and holidays. Luckily everyone tends to speak English and everyone we’ve met has been warm and welcoming and keen to achieve things.

Last year we set up study tours to Denmark and Norway in partnership with the County Sports Partnership Network (CSP), Join In, the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust and the Association of Colleges.

Supported by Erasmus funding, the project focussed on learnings around sports club and volunteer development, which could be applied to delivery in England.

Scandinavian countries are strong on participation, as they put clubs at the heart of the community, which is something we aim to replicate here.

In Scandinavia people feel a sense of responsibility to serve their community which we have lost in some parts of this country: in Copenhagen one in four corporate managers volunteer in sport. Similarly, they’re way ahead of us with their tools for community engagement and marketing.

However, we also have some strengths. For example, our partners were learning from us about integrating immigrant communities. We also profiled Sport England’s highly successful This Girl Can campaign at a Norwegian conference about women in sport leadership. As a result of the study tours, we’ve run a campaign with CSP about talking to volunteers and finding out their motivations for volunteering, which can then be used to market the opportunity to attract more volunteers. We’re also helping our partner organisations to develop a more customer-centric approach to their work.

A really productive working relationship has developed since the tours and we’ve now moved into a pattern of sharing ideas. Also, the different organisations that came on the tours have developed closer links for information sharing.

So often we look within our sector for the answer,to challenges so it’s great to look beyond that. By learning from others, we can see what we can apply. Similarly we can understand what sort of issues and challenges other countries face.