FIFA AND THE OPEN UNIVERSITY
The Capacity Building and Education portfolio complement the policy guidance provided to MAs through the FIFA Guardians Toolkit. It encompasses a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening the capacities of FIFA’s 211 Member Associations and supporting them in raising safeguarding standards.
An MA safeguarding benchmark survey was first developed and conducted in January 2020 to help inform the development of the FIFA Guardians Education and Capacity Building Programme.
This resulted in the conceptualisation and the gradual delivery in the course of 2020 and 2021 of a tailored-made series of capacity building events for FIFA member associations and confederations through workshops and webinars and in the launch of a New FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sports Diploma in January 2020 aimed at professionalizing the role of safeguarding officers in MA’s and raising safeguarding standards around the world.
Developed by FIFA and the Open University (OU), the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sport Diploma is a complete open learning experience available in English, French and Spanish. This major new global education programme is designed to strengthen and professionalise safeguarding standards across football. The programme consists of five online courses primarily aimed at training and supporting safeguarding officers from FIFA’s 211 member associations (“FIFA learners”).
FIFA learners have access to dedicated webinars, moderated forums, interactive workshops and assessments as part of the ongoing 24 months’ curriculum. FIFA learners are required to complete the full programme to achieve the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sport Diploma.
The five online courses which will be gradually released, once launched, are open and freely accessible to other learners, from any sport or sector, who want to learn more about safeguarding in sport. If they successfully complete all five courses online, they will be awarded the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sports Award by the Open University.