1. A Scottish Perspective
Sport for Change
A Scottish Perspective
Linda Macdonald
Senior Development Officer
The Robertson Trust
Dr Kath Edgar
Director
Substance

2. Largest independent funder in Scotland
£18.2m last year in 742 awards
Improve the quality of live and realise the potential for people and communities in Scotland
In 1961 the three Robertson sisters, Elspeth, Agnes and Ethel, donated their shares in the family business developed by their grandfather and father to The Robertson Trust for charitable purposes. This decision to hold the now global company of Edrington in Trust has seen over £150m invested back into charitable organisations, of all sizes, across Scotland.

3. Policy context in Scotland
Focus on participation and performance
Wider impact has often been assumed to be an automatic bi-product of participation
Sport sits within a portfolio that includes Health and Wellbeing
Renewed focus on impact and addressing inequalities
therobertsontrust.org.uk

4. Active Scotland: Outcomes Framework
therobertsontrust.org.uk

5. Sport for Change: Our experience
Where sport is intentionally used as a tool to deliver wider social impact beyond participation in sport
therobertsontrust.org.uk

6. Sport for Change: Our experience
Community sport/ grassroot sports/ sports development/sport for change: same thing?
Assumed benefits of sport
Lack of evidence to back this up
Lack of clarity and leadership around sport for change as an approach
Resources directed at the development of physical assets and sports coaching
Challenges for organisations seeking to adopt a “beyond sport” approach: governance, skills, capacity
Challenges of engaging and retaining beyond “the usual suspects”
therobertsontrust.org.uk

7. Sport for Change: Approach
Strategic support and development
Supporting the sustainability of delivery agencies
Working with Young people
therobertsontrust.org.uk

8. What are we learning from YWiS
What are we learning from YWiS? Approaches that work on the ground and why?
Relationship Building
Facilitating Youth Leadership
Learning, Planning and Delivering: Managing Differing Priorities

9. Motivations for Learning
Upskilling the YWiS Trainee, the majority of which are young people with a sports background or interest in sport, to have the youth work skills required to work with hard to reach young people
All Trainees were attracted to the initiative in order to learn new skills and deliver activities to more hard to reach young people and relay learning into the sports organisations

10. Learning Days & Networking

11. Relationship Building: What Works
The youth work approach embedded through learning was key to allowing the sports organisations reach more hard to reach young people and develop relationships with young people
Shift away from traditional sports provision
All Trainees and Managers on the YWiS initiative believe the programme has helped the organisation build positive relationships with young people in the community

12. Relationship Building: What Works
How? Through providing free, accessible open access sessions with a focus upon sport plus social skills
Adopt an informal but effective approach
Listen to young people’s needs and responding to their feedback [e.g. providing food]
“The best thing is probably the workers. Everyone gets along, it is always a laugh. You can talk to them as well.” [Young Person. Spartans]

13. Relationship Building: What Works
Utilise volunteers to run provision and up skill the community
Be constant and continuous with delivery
Engage with the wider community and school
Delivering the sessions at a time that suits the young people [late night weekend session]
Be flexible to the needs of the young people

14. Facilitating Youth Leadership: What Works
Dual youth leadership pathways are made available [YWiS Trainee and other young people in the community are developed and upskilled]
It works when the Trainee is seen as a role model to the participants and they alongside other young people are designing and leading on youth delivery

15. Facilitating Youth Leadership: What Is Required?
Continual education routes available (eg ability to progress onto degree course)
Improve networking skills with partners
Participate in voluntary community activity
Participate in other formal training
Gain skills in engaging with hard to reach young people
Works when the organisation trusts the approach and the abilities of the young people
Autonomy and authority to lead is essential

16. Facilitating Youth Leadership Across the Wider Community
Building capacity across the community through developing young leaders and young role models from within the project who are supported by the YWiS Trainee. Methods across the YWiS initiative include;
Volunteering opportunities
Training programmes
Work placements [CJS] / Work experience
Young person’s committee
Youth led/planned activities
National Awards
Work experience

17. Example of Volunteer Progression Routes
New volunteers coming on to the stewarding program at the age of fourteen would be helping out with the homework club, and that way we can work with them more directly to help develop their skills in working with young people in the Youth room, but also on the Skate Park, and help them understand what’s expected of them. While they’re doing that they would start the Sports Leaders’ level one, and then once they progress on to the level most of the stewards are at now, when they’re helping out in the beginners’ sessions and it’s more up to their own initiative to go into the sessions and work with the young people, then they would be doing the level two of the Sports Leaders’ Award.

18. Learning and Planning
Supported vis Robertson Trust [funding and guidance]
Rank Foundation
Substance [Views, Data Collection Tools and Methods, Report Score Cards and feedback]

19. Learning & Planning
Overwhelmingly all Trainees agreed that the central benefit associated with learning and planning was; “the ability to be responsive to the needs of the target group” Second most important factor was noted as; “the better understanding they had of the impact of their work”

20. Learning and Planning
Ensuring Management understand and value the evaluation process and support the Trainee in developing new innovative feedback methods; “I have learned a lot more about what we are doing and why and obviously the whole evaluating and how we collect everything together, and I think that has been good for me, because I wasn’t getting any of that. Peter will often say, Right let’s get into this and we are going to talk about Views and we are going to go into talk about now evaluations. And evaluation was a horrible word for me.”

21. YWiS Examples of Data Collection

22. Barriers for Organisations to Embed Learning
Lack of confidence to embed learning into practice
“I’ve known him since he was 16 and he looks up to me in a certain way and it might be intimidating to him.”
Achieving buy-in across the team
“Rachael can be a bit cautious on the sessions that we’re trying to set up, but the reason for that is she’s been around the block, she knows how difficult it is to get up and running and make them work”

23. Barriers to Evaluate and Make Use of Data
Understanding the importance of data and what to do with it
Collecting meaningful data
Setting unrealistic aims with no attempt to evidence the indicators
“do I think all my staff members made best use of the information? No, because I think they are probably too busy getting on with doing their job”

24. Next Steps
Continue to work with projects to support them in aligning organisational plans with evaluative reporting
Provide recommendations on their evidencing of impact
Seek to understand how barriers to integrate learning can be overcome
Research the current buy-in and values of the organisations Board and Senior Management