Equality and Diversity

Energise Me exists to beat inactivity. This means supporting everyone in our area to move more.

As it stands, people from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background are less likely to be physically active than those who are white. Women are less likely to be active than men. People with a health condition or disability are less likely to be active than those without. And people who are on low wages or long-term unemployed are the least likely to be active of all.

This is not what equality looks like. Tackling these inequalities sits at the heart of everything we do.

We want everyone to benefit equally from taking part in physical activity and sport. This is central to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight strategy.

We are making progress. The gender gap is shrinking and more people with long-term health conditions are regularly active. But we still have a long way to go.

Research shows that in clubs nationwide, white non-disabled men dominate coaching. We work with partners to deliver initiatives, such as Project 500, to get more women into coaching.

We also know that some in our local workforce feel they lack the confidence or knowledge to support underrepresented groups. So we’re investing in innovative research and training to help fill these gaps.

We know we can’t champion equality and diversity without challenging ourselves to do better.

In some areas, we are doing well. Our Board exceeds Sport England’s A Code for Sports Governance target of a minimum of 30% of each gender. Our team has representation from people with a long term health condition and LGBTQ+ colleagues.

We make diversity a priority in our trustee recruitment process. We advertise roles through Women on Boards and Sporting Equals, as well as local community groups and charities.

In all our recruitment processes, we have moved away from requiring experience within the sports sector. Instead we are recruiting people with a broader range of skills and perspectives. Our recent trustee recruitment specifically called for new voices who had never been trustees before.

But we know there are still things we need to change. There will also be things we’re not aware we need to change yet. So we need you to tell us when we could be doing better.

In 2021 we published our full diversity and inclusion action plan. We’ve recently published an update on how we’ve been doing and set ourselves some. new goals for the year ahead.