StreetGames is one of the UK’s leading ‘sport for development’ charities – changing lives and transforming communities through the power of sport.

Sport is energetic, inclusive and enjoyable, but StreetGames’ goal isn’t just about having fun. StreetGames believes in the power of sport to transform lives and to broaden ambitions. Sport teaches key skills such as teamwork, understanding and self-discipline, brings people together, creates pride in a community, breaks down social boundaries, and inspires people to make a difference in their own lives and for others. Through sport, StreetGames can empower young people to kick-start a cycle of positive change that echoes throughout their entire community.

StreetGames have created a Theory of Change model that outlines how sport can be harnessed to develop interventions, which provide positive experiences for young people and support the development of pro-social identities. Strong prosocial bonds increase the likelihood of prosocial behaviours, therefore, interventions need to aim to maximise prosocial opportunities for involvement, skills, rewards, bonding, and beliefs, and reduce antisocial opportunities.

The aim of the Theory of Change is to support the development of a pro-social identity for individual young people to prevent offending and reduce re-offending in the context of serious youth violence and to enable young people to make a positive contribution to the community. The model includes:

• Enablers & Conditions – the foundations, which facilitate the design and implementation of successful delivery. They can be grouped into four different categories: foundation, creating the right offer, maintaining engagement and maximising Impact.
• Activities – the things that young people take part in: sport and physical activity, volunteering (and social action) and mentoring.
• Outputs – these emerge through young people’s engagement with the activities as they are supported to form positive habits and behaviours. Therefore, these experiences must encourage young people to sustain their involvement.
• Intermediate Outcomes – these are the building blocks for developing a pro-social identity: behaviour, well-being, attitude/values, skills/knowledge & identity.
• Long Term Outcomes – these are developed and reinforced through the ongoing socialisation process through involvement in positive activities: resilience, engaged, supported, connected and aspirational

Whilst sport can make a hugely valuable contribution to these efforts, it cannot work in isolation but instead should be seen as part of a holistic, multi-agency approach involving a range of stakeholders. Young people’s circumstances and needs can also change very quickly, therefore requiring locally trusted organisations and delivery staff to be able to respond flexibly.

StreetGames have been working in partnership with the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit to support organisations within the Community-Led Pilots, deliver workforce development opportunities, and more recently complete a regional mapping piece.  Throughout all of this work, it is highlighting the role that sport can play in young people’s lives, but also the positive impact that it can make on individuals and local communities.

For further information please visit www.streetgames.org or email Samantha Barton on samantha.barton@streetgames.org.