Why the IWG Global Summit matters

As part of my role at Sport England I’m in Birmingham for the IWG Global Summit and I can’t wait to see what these three days will teach us.

Every four years, the summit brings together people from across the world who are passionate about helping more women and girls enjoy the benefits of sport and physical activity.

The event is a chance to share ideas, challenge assumptions, celebrate progress and, perhaps most importantly, learn from one another.

Time to talk, to listen and to learn

At Sport England, our mission is to help more people improve their lives through sport and physical activity and, by investing National Lottery funding, we work with partners, places and communities across the country to tackle the barriers that prevent people from being active.

This year the summit has been supported by £920k of National Lottery money, helping us – once again – to support great causes to help improve lives and communities across the country.

Our award-winning campaign This Girl Can is one part of that wider work.

Over the 11 years since we launched our first TV spot, we’ve learned a huge amount about helping more women and girls move in ways that feel right for them.

But we also know we don’t have all the answers, so that’s exactly why opportunities like this to gather, discuss and learn from one another matter so much.

As part of Sport England’s contribution to the summit, I’ll be speaking alongside my Sport England colleague Kate Peers, Claire Norman from Active Wellbeing Society and Maxine Mills-Smith from Dolphin Women’s Centre.

Together we’ll be sharing the story of This Girl Can, not simply by celebrating what the campaign has achieved but by exploring the practical lessons behind it, because lasting change has never been about advertising alone.

Our work is about combining insight, investment, trusted partnerships and local communities to create opportunities that genuinely work for people.

This Girl Can is one expression of that holistic approach: a campaign shaped by the women it’s there to serve, and one that's brought to life by the organisations and communities who make meaningful improvements in people’s everyday lives.

In this amazing job, we've also learnt that the best ideas rarely stay where they’re born –  instead, they evolve and they grow because people share them, question them, reshape them and bring them to life in their own communities.

Ultimately, the greatest success isn’t about replication – it’s when an idea becomes so rooted in a place that people forget it ever came from somewhere else.

Growing together

That’s the conversation I hope we’ll contribute to in Birmingham.

I want us to discuss moving from awareness to action, how to turn insight into local change, and how we create environments where more women and girls feel that they belong.

So I’m just as excited to spend time listening as I am speaking.

Every country has its own stories, innovations and hard-won lessons, and gatherings like this remind us that none of us have all the answers.

The opportunity to hear different perspectives, discover new approaches and bring fresh ideas home is every bit as valuable as taking to the stage.

It will also be wonderful to catch up with friends and former colleagues who have helped make this summit happen, and with many of the people who were there in the early days of This Girl Can.

Because campaigns like ours are never built by one person or one organisation – they’re the product of years of collaboration, imagination and determination of many amazing individuals who come together to create something bigger, brighter and better than what we could have achieved individually. And I love it.

Celebrating our gains...

The timing feels significant too.

We’ve seen incredible progress for women and girls in sport over the last decade and (thankfully!) conversations have changed, representation has improved and more women are finding activities they enjoy and places where they feel they belong.

In fact We Like the Way You Move – the latest phase of This Girl Can – has focused on helping more women overcome fear of judgement and get active in ways that work for them.

Our research revealed some interesting points, including:

• over four million women have been inspired to get active since 2015 and 53% of women recognise the campaign
• 69% of women say it made physical activity feel more possible and 47% of women on lower incomes say it boosted their confidence
• among lower socio-economic group women who recognise the campaign, 76% say it increased understanding that even 10 minutes of activity brings immediate benefits, while 69% say it made activity feel possible and 37% say it prompted them to do more sport and exercise. 

But it’s not like we can say that progress isn’t inevitable ​and, around the world, many of the barriers that inspired This Girl Can still exist.

...while working on the future together

New challenges continue to emerge and we can’t assume the progress we’ve made will simply look after itself.

If anything, this is the moment to keep listening, keep learning and keep working together.

It feels fitting that the UK is hosting this year’s IWG Global Summit before the baton passes to Brazil in 2030.

The way I see it, welcoming colleagues from around the world is both a privilege and a reminder that no one country owns the answers – we all have something to contribute and we all have something to learn.

I’m looking forward to three days of ideas, conversations, practical inspiration and, hopefully, a renewed sense of what’s possible.

If you’re in Birmingham this week, please do come and say hello. I want to listen to you.