GM Moving Commitment to Inclusion first partner visit
Activity Alliance is delighted to be working with Greater Manchester (GM) Moving on their Commitment to Inclusion. The first of the GM Moving Partners Commitment to Inclusion visit days was held on Friday 21 July and hosted by Active Tameside. It was a fantastic learning and sharing event. Attending were colleagues from across Greater Manchester: Wigan, Bolton, Salford, Glossop and Stockport, from leisure providers, social enterprise, charities, adult and children’s services and local authority leisure.
The session was designed for up to 20 people. The purpose was to showcase inclusion services and provide real life experiences and challenges in using leisure services. But also, as the engagement tool to address social and health inequalities.
They wanted to share a nationally recognised example of the work Greater Manchester is doing to Pivot to Wellbeing. The event was for senior leaders in organisations that are committed to becoming more inclusive strategically across their boroughs.
The organising group was delighted with the response, with the event filling up quickly and people committing to spend their whole day together.
Dan Higgins, Head of Health and Social Outcomes, Active Tameside opened the session with an explanation of how their work around inclusion. “Everybody Can” started with an ask from the local parent and carer forum who wanted their kids to do what ‘other’ kids do- cycling, swimming, trampolining and multi-sports.
He then explained how the approach has developed over time and grown becoming part of Active Tameside’s DNA. Dan was joined by a panel who brought the journey to life and tell the audience what they had learned.
They were: Shaun Higgins, Director of Health and Social Outcomes, Active Tameside Sheen Wooding, Partnership Manager, Active Tameside, Elaine Healy, Our Kids Eyes (OKE), Parents Forum, Lynne Barnett, Partnership Manager - ISCAN (Integrated Services for Children with Additional Needs), Tameside Council Lorraine Hopkins, Head of Service – Early Help, Neighbourhoods, Early Years Service, Tameside Council.
Hayley Lever, Exec Lead GM Moving and CEO, GreaterSport ran a live twitter thread of the morning’s conversation, recapping the key points as she listened to the panel:
“As always, it’s about shared purpose and people power. Once you have shared purpose and some ‘spark plug’ people, everything flows towards it. We’ve grown our workforce, supported them and they are now engaging and supporting the community sector too”.
Panellists reflected that it’s not been an easy journey. Changing hearts and minds, building trust, developing skills of staff and being open to build trust. But also, that once you’ve worked in this field, you’ll never want to do anything else!
An important question to consider was where to start, given that different places had different contexts and leadership in place.
There were four key messages:
- Start small and build/grow from there.
- Engage with/use parent voice as a lever for change. If there is no parent/carer group locally, you could start by building relationships with schools for children with additional needs.
- Listen to the voice of the child.
- Link it back to the cost savings.
The group enjoyed a tour around the centre and joined some dancing and a conga. The group then took a tour of Denton Wellness Centre, which had been due to open just before the pandemic and is now buzzing hive of activity.
Activity Alliance is supporting Greater Manchester’s Commitment to Inclusion. Andrew Whitaker our Strategic Partnerships Advisor for the North said:
“Thank you to Active Tameside for the many powerful messages to take away from this day. It showed us all how we can truly embed a person-centred approach across any organisation. What’s more, how to amplify disabled people’s voice and how to best use co-production to reduce the barriers and inequalities people experience. The commitment to inclusion partners are collectively looking to build a movement of change. We want to tackle the inequalities disabled people face across the Greater Manchester region. We look forward to seeing this idea develop, delivering further learning and sharing opportunities in the coming months”.
Hayley commented after the event:
“I am enjoying how this collective leadership model is developing in the Commitment to Inclusion network. Having Andrew from Activity Alliance as a co-leader in this work in Greater Manchester is fantastic. It ensures the work draws on Activity Alliance’s knowledge, expertise, connections and good practice from outside the Greater Manchester region as we develop the work together”.
Read more about the Commitment To Inclusion: Active Tameside
Partnership impact
We interviewed Hayley Lever on the impact their partnership with Activity Alliance is having for them and across the Greater Manchester region. You can watch this below.
