About

Sport and Inclusion for Refugees in Europe (INSPIRE) is a 12-month project funded by the European Commission seeking to increase the potential for host communities to successfully engage and integrate refugees through sport.

The project focuses on identifying refugees’ needs for and barriers to participation in local sport activities, support the provision of sporting activities and provide opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers at grassroots sport level, while promoting a transferable methodology based on the findings.

Particular attention is being paid to gender balance due to the low levels of participation of female refugees in grassroots sport caused by lack of information of how to access sports activities, lack of opportunities, little experience and low self-confidence in trying out or practising sport or sport activities unsuitable for female refugees due to cultural differences.

As part of the INSPIRE project a toolkit has been developed and was presented at the project’s final conference in Warsaw in December 2018 sharing training modules, best practice examples and offering recommendations to sports organisations and practitioners. The toolkit is available to view here.

Project partners include the Fare members Les Dégommeuses and Fundacja dla Wolności, from France and Poland respectively, who have comprehensive expertise in working with refugees and implementing football projects for refugees.

Follow INSPIRE on social media through the hashtag #RefugeesInspire and on farenet.org.