Active Partnerships Convention 2022 - Mobilising the Movement
Written by Martin Preston, Active Partnerships National Team
Image from GreaterSport presentation
So much has changed since the last Convention, but so many of the complex and stubborn challenges still remain. Covid-19 continues to challenge the norm, inequalities, the economy, societal changes, physical and mental health issues are all of huge concern.
Despite this, agility, collaboration and innovation have come to the fore and we wanted the 2022 Convention to build on this. We wanted this year’s event to create a space for the network and our partners to accelerate sustainable cohesive action that can help overcome these complex challenges through transformational change. We wanted the Convention to Mobilise the Movement!
So, over the last two weeks there were 15 sessions covering themes including Climate, Active Ageing, Active Travel, Systems Leadership, Open Data, Tackling Racism & Racial Equality, Economic Growth, Children & Young People and Health & Inactivity. We had sessions led by and including numerous partners including SteetGames, Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust, the Sport for Development Coalition, Environment Agency, Open Data Institute, CIMPSA, Active Travel England and UK Active. Over 20 partner agencies contributed to the event, and this should be celebrated. A huge thank you to them all.
We had so many incredible speakers (there are too many to mention here), but we were very happy to hear from Tim Hollingsworth and Phil Smith (Sport England), Chris Boardman (Active Travel England), Sanjay Bhandari (Kick it Out), Sir Muir Gray (NHS England and Public Health England) and Azeem Rafiq. As I say, there are too many contributors to mention here, but we are incredibly grateful to everyone.
The event was a truly collaborative effort, involving colleagues from over 20 Active Partnerships who helped make this such a collective and interactive success. A special thank you goes to everyone who took it on themselves to bring together the speakers and contributors, this is no mean feat.
The open and honest conversations held throughout the two weeks reinforced the importance of partnership working, building relationships, how language and terminology matters, making space for learning and sharing challenges as well as success, working together to play to each other’s strengths and the importance of truly listening. As Chris Boardman said we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
Some comments shared on social media included
“Second session with @ActivePartners_20022 Convention. Brilliant collaborative conversation on the power of a whole systems approach. There is such value in a networking of organisations coming together to learn and develop! @Sarahmortiboys1
A brilliant team effort by many people across England’s Active Partnerships to deliver 10 days of stories, conversations, learning & collaboration. Amazing depth & breath. A great insight into the unique roles APs play in uniting and #Mobilisingthemovement” @evefrancis holt
great presentations from @ActivePartners_ in Gloucestershire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester this morning, Collaborative, Honest. Transformational” @Hayelylever
There it is, the Convention came and went. We do hope you found it thought provoking, enjoyable and inspiring. My favourite comment came from Sanjay who said that he often hears the comment that some communities are ‘hard to reach’, he felt the reality was that some communities are ‘hardly reached’.
So that just leaves us all with one key question, what action will we now take to increase our collective impact?
Here are some statistics from the event;
A thank you to the Active Partnerhsip National Team, Attendable and Yarrington who all played a key role in helping to make the event as impactful as possible.
The session were all recorded and are currently being edited. We are aiming for them to be available via a repository by Easter.
