Capitalising on the moment to strengthen and grow the movement – blog from Graeme Sinnott

After recent announcements and events, Graeme Sinnott, Relationships Director for the Active Partnerships National Organisation, talks about why seeing the expansion of place partnerships come to fruition felt like a milestone moment for the ‘movement’ to capitalise on.

“As a network of Active Partnerships, we’ve been working as part of the £550m portfolio of 131 system partners and taking a place-based approach to reducing inequalities by partnering with local and national stakeholders to help transform lives through movement, physical activity and sport.

Each Active Partnership has a strong understanding of the needs in their places, with extensive knowledge of local people, communities, stakeholders and systems. Through this role, the network has been mobilising in places Uniting the Movement priorities such as the national network of sport welfare officers and the improvement of multi-sport facilities.

Sport England’s recent announcement about investing through a fundamentally new approach a further £250m to expand its place partnerships came two days before the first system partner conference in Birmingham.

A moment for the movement

Stepping back, when looking at the announcement and conference together, it felt like a significant moment for Uniting the Movement. Approximately £800m is being invested across these two commitments. The biggest investments Sport England is making over the next few years to support the movement to strengthen and grow.

As this article says, ‘movements often involve a rallying cry…and a shared goal for the common good.’

Is our rallying cry and shared goal for common good that national investment (for now) has largely been set out and we now need to wire it up effectively to tackle deep-rooted inequalities and unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for everyone?

Embracing proportionate universalism

‘Investing most in those that need it most’ is one of the three guiding principles in Uniting the Movement that sought to revolutionise how we do things. It’s about following the established concept of proportionate universalism in the work that we do, balancing targeted and universal provision in a way that’s proportionate to the level of need.

Balancing equality and equity and maintaining a sense of a collective is not easy. Nor should it be.

The principle isn’t new. It was applied in system partner investment, as some partners receive more than others based on a variety of factors. The principle is now more overtly applying to the changes to the Active Lives Survey following an in-depth consultation and the place partnerships investment.

Where previously applying for funding was a competitive process, with decisions often based on the quality of the application received, the approach to expanding place partnerships is different. The emphasis is now on complementing robust social and physical activity data with local intelligence, the readiness and context of each place and therefore phasing investment over time.

Patience and breathing room for places

Active Partnerships are convening partners to enable local solutions to develop on where, how and on what any place partnerships investment could go. They are contributing local intelligence. Creating the conditions for collaboration. They certainly aren’t a gatekeeper to places but they are being asked to provide leadership that ensures things connect and focus locally around where need is greatest.

Patience and letting places breathe feels important so that there is, first and foremost, real local clarity about how local solutions will develop in the coming months and years. This might look like new capacity within communities, increased leadership development, improvements to facilities, more robust evaluation approaches or small pots of money to put on programmes. The next year will likely require being comfortable with a lot of ‘what this might look like’, rather than ‘what this will look like.’

I saw this first-hand through the detailed planning that went into the visit to Essex for the announcement. How the Active Essex team worked alongside local partners, Sport England and my team to ensure that the day struck a balance of being a national media spotlight, while also progressing local opportunities and highlighting some of the fantastic activities happening in the area.

The power of reframing to preserve the culture of togetherness

£250m was the headline for the place partnerships announcement and the attention was largely on the £190m for 80-100 new places. A significant announcement about how public money will be used.

I have seen how the announcement and application of proportionate universalism has created both excitement and challenges locally with stakeholders. I saw how nationally it was a big moment for political strategic alignment and amplified media coverage about the purpose of the movement.

What seems to have been discussed less so far is that £25m, 10% of the announcement, was allocated to a new universal offer that will support all people and places to develop.

Or that £190m is going into 80-100 new places to broaden the movement’s efforts to tackle inequalities by bringing in new learning, new assets and new perspectives through supporting people and places that aren’t already receiving significant Sport England investment.

Or that approximately £140m of the £550m system partner investment was committed to Active Partnerships to play their local leadership, connecting and convening role that covers all Local Authorities in England and will help the pieces of the Uniting the Movement jigsaw come together in all places across England.

There are many ways to cut the numbers and of course we are in a very challenging financial climate, but there is no reason why we can’t talk about money in ways that focuses attention on the collective and the strengths of what already exists alongside what will be new and deepens understanding of proportionate universalism everywhere.

Galvanising, mobilising and making tough decisions

By trying something new, the questions we’ve asked previously won’t always have answers. Uniting the Movement has galvanised partners around an agenda of tackling inequalities and in turn created and strengthened connectivity across multiple sectors in pursuit of that shared goal for the common good. The movement has become a network of networks across sectors. Proportionate universalism is being implemented. £800m of investment has a clear direction. A new future is emerging.

Can we capitalise on this moment of recent high-profile activities and announcements to strengthen and grow the movement?”