On February 23 and 24, partners in the European project VOICE met for the partners meeting in Vienna, Austria. The project focuses on combating sexual violence and harassment in European sport through research and by listening to voices of those affected, promoting safe sporting environments and freedom from harassment, violence, exploitation and abuse. EUSA was represented at the meeting by Mr Andrej Pisl, Communications and Projects Manager.

The meeting started on Thursday morning with an overview of the main activities and achievements by the coordinators & steering group, led by German Sport University, NWG-Network and a survivor of sexual abuse.



University partners from eight participating countries - German Sport University (GER), Edge Hill University (GBR), University of Ljubljana (SLO), University of Southern Denmark (DEN), University of Debrecen & University of Budapest (HUN), University of Vienna (AUT), University of Antwerp & Thomas More University College (BEL), University of Vic - University Central of Catalunya (ESP) presented their status quo in the project. The research started with interviews with the victims and survivors of sexual harassment & abuse, and the call is still open. Analysis will follow, and stories will be shared after being anonymised.



The four sport organisations partners - European University Sports Association (EUSA), European Paralympic Committee (EPC), Youth Section of the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO Youth) and the European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) also presented their activities and shared their commitments and dissemination plan. Sports organisations play an important role in the project, especially in the promotion, education and dissemination part, as well as in implementation of the recommendations that will follow the project outcomes.

The meeting in Vienna concluded with parallel workshops with university partners and sport organisations and providing practical information about the future activities; namely staging the national forums, organisation of European workshop, collection of good practices and development of educational resources.



The national forums will start end of March and will continue throughout the year; the first one will be organised in Barcelona on March 29, 2017. European workshop will be held September 25-29, 2017 in Cologne and the Final Conference May 3-5, 2018 in Bergisch Gladbach near Cologne.



Project consortium is looking for organisations to support the initiative and activities, as well as individuals affected by sexual violence or abuse in the context of sport or physical education. If you have been affected, or know somebody who has been, we would like to hear from you. We especially invite individuals living in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain and United Kingdom (project partner countries) to contact the researchers in these countries, helping us share the story and conduct a European research study. All contacts are strictly confidential and identity of participants taking part in a research interview is protected.



VOICE project is funded through the EU Erasmus+ programme, under collaborative partnerships in sport. For more information, please see www.voicesfortruthanddignity.eu.