S.C.P. Japan is delivering a safeguarding workshop for people working in sports organizations led by an international expert, who is part of the International Safeguards for Children in Sport Initiative.

S.C.P. Japan (Sport for Creating Pathways Japan) launched a safeguarding project, focusing on protecting children’s rights and human rights in sports for two consecutive years starting in 2022 until 2023 – funded by Sumitomo Life Health Foundation.

Extensive research shows that sports and physical education environments create a closed environment and can have unequal power relationships between coaches and players, and facilitators and participants. These situations enable violence, abuse, and harassment in sports to occur. Recently, sports-related organizations including the IOC, federations, and  grassroots community-based sports clubs are urged to have and operate a safeguarding policy in their organizations. The International Safeguards for Children in Sport Initiative established the annual  #SafeSportDay on August 8, to celebrate progress and advocate for the responsibilities of sports organizations to protect human rights and create safe sports environment.

In the first project year in 2022, we have provided a safeguarding workshop to leaders and staff of sport and sport for development organizations and developed a basic safeguarding workshop curriculum. In the following year, we plan to develop an advanced safeguarding workshop curriculum and deliver safeguarding workshops to the national sports federations, professional sports clubs, and community-based sports clubs at the grassroots level.

Launched our safeguarding workshop in sports

Providing a safeguarding workshop is our first program in this project. The workshop provides an opportunity for participants, working in sports organizations to learn the concept of safeguarding in sports. The workshop also aims to support participants in implementing safeguarding in their respective organizations. There are 25 participants attending three workshop sessions starting from July 20th. The facilitator is Dr. Lombe Mwambwa, who has an extensive experience providing  safeguarding education including teaching the IOC Safeguarding Officer in Sport Certificate course and is also a member of the International Safeguards for Children in Sport Initiative.

■Date and Time of the workshops：
・Introduction Session： Wednesday, July 20th 19:00-19:45 (GMT +9)
・First Session: Wednesday, July 27th, 19:00-21:00(GMT +9)
・Second Session: Monday, August 8th, 19:00-21:00(GMT +9)
・Third Session: Monday, August 22nd, 19:00-21:00(GMT +9)

■Facilitator： Dr. Lombe Mwambwa

Dr. Lombe Mwambwa researches and practices on issues of inequalities within  sport and onthe use of sport to address societal inequalities in Southern Africa. Dr. Mwambwa has worked on initiatives to raise awareness and advocacy capacity among athletes, officials, and governors of sports on the risks of non-accidental harm and in promoting safeguarding and protection practices. She has contributed to the development of safeguarding guiding principles and advised on toolkit development and organization policies for international sports organizations.

Message from Dr. Lombe Mwambwa to celebrate #SafeSportDay !

“Sport is a big part of our society, ensuring we keep it safe is a key commitment we should deliver on, so that children and adults can fully enjoy it. We shouldn’t look away when something goes wrong and we should be proactive and establish safeguarding as a core part of our sporting culture. Fair and inclusive sport has to be safe as well.”

S.C.P. Japan will continue to focus on promoting safeguarding in sports. 

▼S.C.P. Japan’s actions on safeguarding in sports
Safeguarding policy of S.C.P. Japan

▼Safeguarding workshop that S.C.P. Japan has supported

＜JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA Academy (written in Japanese)＞

＜FAGIANO OKAYAMA Academy (written in Japanese)＞

▼Information and Resources for your safeguarding action
・”International Safeguards for Children in Sport” website: https://safeinsport.org/
・THE EIGHT SAFEGUARDS: https://safeinsport.org/resources/#eight-safeguards
・English: https://safeinsport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/International-Safeguards-for-Children-in-Sport-English.pdf
・Japanese: https://safeinsport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/JAPANESE-Safeguarding-children-in-sport.pdf

On January 28th, we organized the 4th time of BreakTalks. The theme for this Break-Talks was “Mental Disorder.” Ms. Asuka Fujii, who writes lead paragraphs for S.C.P Japan mail magazine and is a person with mental disorder grade three, spoke about her tough and encouraging experiences of having a mental disorder. 

In the first half of the talk, Ms. Asuka Fujii talked about her personal story. Specifically, she taught us when she was diagnosed with depression, how she has tackled the disorder, what exactly bipolar disorder is, and why she decided to get a disability certificate, a special notebook that ensures handicapped people’s well-being. In the other half of the talk, Ms. Asuka Fujii answered a variety of questions from the participants.

Ms. Asuka Fujii’s Personal Story

Since the age of nine when she joined a local soccer club, Ms. Asuka Fujii always enjoyed playing soccer. However, from a certain point, she became less enthusiastic to play soccer. She, being described as diligent by a lot of people, was diagnosed with a mental disorder when she was seventeen. At the same time, she was interested in teaching soccer instead of playing it. Although she studied coaching in university and continued teaching soccer after graduation, she is now looking for a working life that suits her mental state.

While she went to school for a few days in the 12th grade, she quit her school and took a test that grants her a high school diploma. However, she experienced depression in her university and working life, so she was constantly out of her university and job. Later, she was diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorder and was hospitalized for once. In that mental condition, she obtained a grade three of mental disability certificate. 

In 2019, she quit her job again. After one week of examination at a hospital, her diagnosis changed from the recurrent depressive disorder to bipolar disorder.  Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder that repeats mood shifts ranging from emotional highs to lows. In manic high periods, she becomes talkative and causes overwork. Immediately after the periods, she suffers from depressive periods. This kind of mood shift occurs once a year, but she can now control an intense mood shift with medicines. 

Present and the Future Life

She is not fully confident about working, and she is still on a journey of finding a way to embrace herself. According to her, as others’ support has helped her a lot, good relationships with family, hospitals, and counselors are indispensable. 

She also puts forward the use of social services. Welfare services let people fully rely on a variety of experts, which eliminates the need to complete everything by oneself. This is one of the reasons she decided to acquire a disability certificate. She also takes the advantage of rework services, transition support for handicapped people, and working day-care service. She is striving for the future in which she finds something she can grow as a person.

”It’s just a disorder”

In the last half of the BreakTalks, Ms. Asuka Fuji answered questions from participants. One of them asked how to explain depression to children. She shared her experience to answer the question. When she was diagnosed with depression, her parents said, “Depression is just a disorder. It is curable.” This simple response definitely made her feel better.

After the event, a lot of participants said that they are happy to learn about bipolar disorder, as it is rather a minor topic to talk about. Everyone expressed gratitude to her for sharing experiences.

S.C.P Japan continues to introduce people with a variety of  information and experiences through BreakTalks, which certainly brings an occasion to explore diversity and inclusive society.

Thank you for each participant with a unique background. We appreciate the time and dedication they offered.

Thank you also for Ms. Asuka Fujii, volunteers, and sign language interpreters, who all made this event special. We hope to work together in the near future.

On December 28, 2021, we held a program called “Let’s Move! Run! Enjoy!” at Kanazawa, Japan. This program belongs to “Special Event in Kanazawa,” executed on December 26 and December 28, 2021.

*The program is one of BreakTalks offline events. Please check out this link for more information about “BreakTalks.” 

＜Time to Move!＞

Children from kindergarten and elementary school exercised together before lunch. Though some of them were nervous at first, everyone enjoyed the time as soon as they started activities.
All children understood others’ backgrounds and ages, which led them to further help each other and be respectful.

＜Lunch Time＞

After the recreations, everyone had lunch. Okuwa-Kodomo Shokudo served an amazing lunch made with local food for everyone, including children, their parents, and staff. We, S.C. P Japan, learned that such an environment full of cooperation is indispensable to nurture children within a community. 

＜Walking-Football Gathering＞

After lunch time, we conducted “Walking-Football Gathering.”  “Walking-Football” has been known as an universal sport that all people, regardless of age, gender, physical disabilities, can engage themselves in. With approximately 30 people participating in this sports event, the program finished successfully.

Thank you to every participant, Okuwa-kodomo Shokudo, and volunteers who all contributed to bring such a great experience.

On August 25th, S.C.P.Japan hosted its second Break Talks event. We invited Mr. Yuhei Doi as a speaker, who runs “Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo”, (a Kodomo-Shokudo is “a place to eat where children can go even by themselves for free or low-cost meals.”) in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. While working at a children’s home (run by social care services), Mr. Doi started “Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo” two years ago and is currently the Volunteer Representative of the service.

The first half of the event was themed “Inclusive Society – from a viewpoint of a children’s cafeteria,” Mr. Doi introduced the service and talked about the issues he has faced through managing and operating. 

What is “Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo”?

Since January 2019, “Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo,” has been in operation for the residents in Okuwamachi, Kanazawa City. It is held once a month and about 50 children and adults get together. At the beginning, the community center was rented out to host the meals, but since March 2020 because of the pandemic, adjustments had been made to serve with lunch boxes.

“Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo” is not just about providing meals. There are various events and activities for children to enjoy, such as a latte art workshop. One event had a chiropractor visit to perform treatment and give parents some opportunities to relax. Children-friendly outdoor events are also planned, such as potato harvesting and camping – in order to involve the wider community and families.

“Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo” operates on the fee from the participants. It is free for children and 300 yen for adults. Therfore, participation of certain numbers of adults is needed in order to earn operating costs. At the moment, these fees are not enough to cover the expenses such as food, venue, insurance etc., and the deficit is being covered by donations. The biggest challenge is to secure funding and stabilize the management of the service.

What are the issues you find by running “Okuwa Kodomo Shokudo”?

Okuwamachi is a place where a large number of apartment blocks are and there are many single parent households living there, as well as others with various needs – like elderly people and people with disabilities. Due to a relatively rapid turnover of residents and isolation of certain households, the anonymity makes it difficult to see who needs help and where they are.

My own experience of growing up with a father with a mental health problem is one of the reasons why I tried to get involved in this movement. My day job is working at a children’s home, where I work with socially vulnerable young people. I know that there are also families who are facing difficult challenges right now, who are still in the community, but their lives are on the verge of collapsing – a mere step away from their children being placed in social care. Through the children’s cafeteria, I feel there must be something we can do to help these people, to prevent them from falling further.

As we run the cafeteria for a longer period, I feel the bond between the families who use the service is getting stronger. A lady noticed a child who hadn’t attended the cafeteria for a while, and she visited the child’s home to see what was going on. On another occasion, a family had been going through a hard time with their child struggling to go to school, so one of the participants recommended our cafeteria to the mother. After they joined, the child made friends with other children in the cafeteria and subsequently managed to go back to school. 

I am very much conscious that the children’s cafeteria is not just a place to provide meals. I would like it to be a place where we can give children an opportunity to experience a variety of things, a place for children to come to – if they are having difficulties going to school. It also makes me so happy to hear from our volunteers – whose children have already grown up, that they really enjoy cooking for and interacting with the families who come here.

As for our future activities, we are thinking of an outdoor workshop as well as opening a traditional styled candy store, as a way to have more direct contact with children. In addition, we would like to create a “food bank,” a free food distribution service for those who are in need, with food that would have otherwise been wasted.

In the second half, Ms. Shigenami – the Director of S.C.P. Japan, facilitated a discussion for Mr. Doi and the participants. Someone suggested Mr. Doi to work closely with schools and City Hall to advertise the service to a wider community. Mr. Doi responded that in Ishikawa Prefecture, the current regulation is that schools are unable to make an independent decision whether they should inform the community of the children’s cafeteria or not. The Prefectural Board of Education is responsible for this decision. They then discussed the importance of building a good relationship between schools and the service. Mr. Doi also explained that the family support section of City Hall distributes pamphlets that include information on the children’s cafeteria, but it has not reached all of those who are in need. They also discussed how to maximize “word of mouth” reviews from the participants and volunteers in order to promote the service further. They also talked about the possibility of asking for help from those who have direct contacts with the target households, such as the people who regularly collect money from them for services, etc.

Finally, Mr. Doi emphasized that the future of the socially vulnerable children can change for the better – with the right support. It is extremely important to keep believing in them, and never stop supporting them as we continue to pursue new initiatives.

Through these Break Talks, S.C.P.Japan will continue to introduce inspirational guests and their activities to create a place where people from diverse backgrounds can get together and learn. Our aim is to encourage discussions about achieving a more diverse and inclusive society.

We would like to thank all 22 participants and everyone who helped us organize this event. 

Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Doi for participating as our special guest speaker. We would also like to thank the volunteer staff and sign language interpreters who worked very hard to make this happen.

We are pleased to announce that we renewed the collaboration agreement with Barça Foundation for 2021 season. Since 2020, we are working with Barça Foundation to promote the FutbolNet methodology developed by Barça Foundation that uses sports and physical activities as educational tools to foster the sense of values necessary for an inclusive society. Through this collaboration, we continue to commit to promoting Diversity and Inclusion and creating more inclusive society in Japan.