Kick-Off Meeting – Madrid, February 23-24, 2018

The Sport Director General of the High Council for Sport and Vice President of the Fundación Deporte Joven, Coordianting partner of this Erasmus+ project, Mr. Jaime González Castaño, welcomed the participants. Mr. González opened the event emphasizing the compromise of the Spanish Government with the protection of children in sport and the importance of working on this topic within the framework of the new “Organic Law for the Eradication of Violence Against Children and the Protection of Children’s Rights and Physical Integrity in the Context of Sport”. Mr. González spoke about the concerns that the Spanish Government shares with the European Union. The EU Work Plan for 2017-2020, establishes the topic of child protection as a key topic that must be addressed as a priority by the EU Member States.

For the Director General, “the frequent and disturbing news appearing in the media about abuse cases in the context of sport, rresent only the tip of the iceberg and are a clear call to action. Luckily, for this project, we have a great team of partners and experts and the support of the European Commission to develop this learning platform targeted at children, families, coaches and managers. We believe it will contribute to eradicate abuse against children in sport for ever.”

Two days of meetings were held for partners to get to know each other, learn about the financial and management framework of the project, coordinate working teams, establish scope and goals of the Erasmus+project and begin the work on the technical development of the platform and the content that will be offered in the program.