The Hellenic Olympic Committee participates in the European program called GAMES. It is a 24-month project, which started in April 2022 and will be completed in March 2024. Its objective is to improve gender equality in the key leadership and decision-making positions of the participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs), by promoting structural changes in their governance, enhancing the understanding on the existing cultural barriers and encouraging the NOCs to work with their member federations to create a sustainable change.

 In February 2022, the EOC EU Office received the good news from the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission regarding the selection results of the Erasmus+ Sport call 2021. The project entitled “Guidance to Achieve More Equal Leadership in Sport” (GAMES) https://games-project.com/ has been selected for funding in the first edition of the Erasmus+ Programme, within the new Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027.

 Within GAMES, each partner NOC will develop a national strategic action plan with concrete actions to improve gender equality in their leadership, as well as to launch the implementation of the action plans – and related activities – at national level. Significantly, GAMES will produce a “Pool of Actions” inclusive of best practices in terms of gender equality in sport with the ultimate aim to further promote concrete knowledge and procedures in the realm of gender equality among all European NOCs.

 The GAMES project gathers a consortium of European National Olympic Committees (NOCs): Turkey, Greece, Belgium, Latvia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany and North Macedonia as well asrenowned experts in the field of gender equality and good governance, including Professor Emerita Kari Fasting from ‘Equal Rights’ and Rowland Jack from ‘I TRUST Sport’. Furthermore, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will act as a key player in terms of promoting and disseminating the project deliverables across all NOCs worldwide.

 On 26-27 of April, the kick-off meeting took place in the EOC EU Office in Brussels. Throughout both days, there were constructive and critical discussions amongst the attendees on their main expectations and motivations to participate in the GAMES project. The partners had a unique opportunity to exchange their own experiences within their organisations, which sparked interesting ideas. The two-day meeting came to a conclusion with all participants expressing their enthusiasm and commitment to further implement the GAMES project in the upcoming months.