On behalf of Sport England and the Home Office, KKP was commissioned to develop, deliver and evaluate a pilot training programme under the remit of Prevent, part of the Government's drive to protect the public from the threat of terrorism. As sport plays such an integral part of community life, the home office recognised that sports practitioners can contribute to achievement of its Prevent agenda.

A bespoke training programme was developed by KKP in partnership with experts in community cohesion, faith awareness, community development and grassroots sport. Additional input was provided by the Home Office and Sport England. To ensure high quality delivery and relevance, KKP established a Practitioner Panel to provide expert input to the development of the process, guide course development and in some cases to assist in the recruitment of coaches and leaders for the pilot training itself.

Entitled Sport Prevent Awareness Training, the resulting programme effectively gives sports coaches and leaders greater awareness of potential issues and assists them to recognise people involved in sports clubs and projects who are potentially vulnerable to being recruited by extremist groups. Due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter, and to meet the needs of the target audience, the training took the form of a three hour workshop supported by a course workbook containing key information, interactive exercises and links to key contacts.

As part of the pilot, online resources (website and DVD footage) were designed to provide those who attended the training with the opportunity to re-visit issues and subject matter covered, as well as providing additional information and resources for those wishing to discover more. The site map for the website followed the core framework of the training programme with video clips uploaded to reinforce learning.

Over a very short space of time, more than 120 coaches, volunteers and sports leaders attended workshops across the Country, delivered in eight targeted areas. These raised the profile and understanding of the Prevent agenda, provided those attending with the skills to spot the key signs of ‘radicalisation' and provided them with a menu of actions that practitioners can take ‘on the ground'.

Our work also included development of policy documentation, and an impact evaluation report with recommendations for roll-out. Key issues identified included: 

• Briefings stakeholders is crucial to raising awareness amongst the sporting community.
• It is beneficial to engage the ‘gatekeepers' to certain communities.
• It is essential to use confident tutors, experienced in sports club development/child protection issues and ensure they receive intensive training in the subject matter.
• Courses are better attended where a local contact is involved. Pre-course delivery time and effort needs to be devoted to developing such relationships.

Commenting on KKP's expertise as a training provider, Laura Graham, Head of Strategy and Special Projects, Sport England said,

"From the outset of the project KKP showed a real commitment to the project and a determination to engage with the issues and deliver a high quality project. The training programme was high quality, innovative and used a mixture of interaction, discussion, games and listening which made it much more varied and made a complex and sensitive topic more approachable. The Home Office and DCMS were very impressed with the project and keen to extend to a roll out which is a testament to the hard work and enthusiasm of the KKP team. They went the extra mile which made a real difference to the output."