Active Partnerships as part of their work to improve Board diversity, are delighted to have partnered with the Professional Football Association ( PFA) on their ‘On the Board’ programme.
Graduates from the programme can now be signposted to Active Partnership Board vacancies to help in the recruitment of more diverse Boards. The first graduate of this new venture with Active Partnerships is Anton Ferdinand who has taken up a new board appointment at Active Essex.
On The Board is the Effective Board Member programme for current and ex-footballers and those working in the sport. It has been designed to improve their understanding of boards and train them to become competent board members.
Developed by the Governance Forum, the Effective Board Member series of programmes have been established to tackle diversity on boards. Previous graduates have acquired board appointments in a wide variety of organisations in the voluntary sector. The programme for footballers was delivered over six months during which the players have discussed, debated, and learned about governance frameworks, governance codes, board behaviour and reviewing board performance.
Oshor Williams, Assistant Director of Education at the PFA said
“Over the past eight years the PFA has funded over 100 of its experienced and in many cases high profile members through the On the Board programme. The Active Partnership initiative will provide this rich and diverse talent pool with opportunities to gain ‘real world’ governance experience within an inclusive, supported environment”.
Lee Mason, CEO of Active Partnerships said
“I am sure the work of Active Partnerships, which involves creating opportunities for more people to be active, tackling inequalities and using the power of sport to transform lives, will be of great interest to many graduates of the On The Board programme. With our network across every part of England, it will also provide opportunities to support this work in the place you live, which I am sure will provide an added interest, as well as benefiting our network with access to a more diverse pool of Board ready candidates”