How do you support people who would benefit most from physical activity to get moving: an action learning series

In 2023, Yorkshire Sport Foundation commissioned us to deliver a series of action learning based sessions with community groups who had benefitted from the Together Fund Programme which supported projects enabling people from diverse and underserved communities to get active.

About the Together Fund

The Together Fund programme was delivered by the Yorkshire Sport Foundation (YSF) across Yorkshire between 2000 and 2023. The aims of this fund were to reduce the inequality gap existing across our communities, working to support those most in need to become more active. Sport England have provided additional funds to Active Partnerships and National Partners, to work with organisations who support the following audiences:

• People with long term health conditions

• Disabled People

• Lower socio-economic groups

• Culturally diverse communities

The fund evolved over the project lifetime, building on the initial focus (COVID Recovery) to concentrate on:

• Supporting community organisations to reach and engage their audience in movement/physical activity – creating a line of sight to movement/physical activity/sport.

• Increasingly focus on supporting organisations to recover and grow in this period whilst acknowledging in some instances there will still need to be some support for immediate hardship. We trust in our partners.

Purpose and Practice

Over 3 months, Growing Circles delivered a series of action learning based sessions with community groups who had benefitted from the Together Fund Programme.

Through a series of workshops and individual interviews across the seven geographical locations for the project, we brought groups together by locality to meet, connect, share learning and identify opportunities to continue to work collaboratively and ideas for future projects through YSF.

We used a simple reflective framework for the conversations, asking people to share what took place, what they learned from their own experiences and from listening to others and then asked them to make recommendations for future programmes. The feedback was captured and analysed for key themes and recommendations.

Participants

Between July and September 2023, we carried our five focus groups and two interviews with community leaders who had delivered a Together Fund project. Each focus group was also attended by the District Officer/Manger along with one of the Community Development Managers. YSF staff were encouraged to actively engage in the discussion.

For the community learning sessions, we spoke to 32 grant recipients, five Local Managers/Officers and two Community Managers. We then ran a final learning session with the project team which was attended by five Local Managers/Officers, two Community Managers, a member of the finance team and a member of the data and insight team. 

Through a series of workshops and individual interviews across the seven geographical locations for the project, we brought groups together by locality to meet, connect, share learning and identify opportunities to continue to work collaboratively and ideas for future projects through YSF.

Take a look at the report below to see what we learned from these amazing community leaders and practitioners.