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Embedding Youth Voice

GM Moving works directly with young people and their communities to listen, understand barriers, and shape services that promote genuine inclusion.

GM Moving is committed to embedding youth voice at the heart of everything we do.

To genuinely empower children and young people to access sport and movement, our work must reflect the communities we serve. National Active Lives CYP data and local #BeeWell insights continue to highlight clear inequalities in participation, particularly for young people with specific identities, characteristics and lived experiences.

Using both national statistics and localised data, we identify where inequality and inactivity persist and target support to challenge the systemic issues preventing young people from being active.

Our approach is grounded in the Lundy Model of Participation, ensuring young people have the space, voice, audience and influence to shape design and decision‑making. Through community‑led delivery and youth‑driven insight, we aim to remove social, cultural and economic barriers to movement.

Intersectionality remains central to our work.

We understand that the interconnected factors shaping a young person’s identity can significantly affect their likelihood of being active. This is why we continue to develop partnerships with youth justice, youth offending teams, social care, and organisations supporting care-experienced young people, and young people with refugee or asylum-seeking status.

We are committed to living the values of GM Moving, ensuring that “movement for all” is not just an ambition but a principle that guides every decision, partnership and programme we deliver.

Partners across GM are working collaboratively to provide safe, accessible and culturally appropriate opportunities for all children and young people. Examples include:

  • Women and girls’ inclusion: We have created partnerships with local authorities, schools, community groups and sports partners to widen opportunities for girls to be active by creating supportive environments, safe spaces, addressing confidence barriers, and ensuring affordable programmes across GM.
  • LGBTQ+ inclusion: GM Moving, The Proud Trust and the LGBTQ+ community are co-developing training, resources and person-centred workshops to support staff across activity and community settings to create safe, informed and inclusive environments. We also work closely with borough youth groups to champion LGBTQ+ young people’s voices and experiences.
  • Global majority communities: We collaborate with community hubs, faith settings and local leaders to co-design movement opportunities that reflect cultural needs and remove barriers to participation.
  • Care-experienced, NEET young people and those experiencing multiple layers of deprivation: We work with social care and community partners to create clear pathways, opportunities and supportive networks for young people facing the greatest structural barriers. Our focus is on opening up access to free, fun and youth-led activities that build confidence, strengthen connections and support their wider wellbeing, while removing the financial, social and environmental obstacles that limit participation. GM Moving is committed to sharing learning, amplifying youth and community voices, connecting partners and leading the narrative around inclusion. Together, we are building a system that is adaptable, responsive and relentlessly focused on ensuring all young people across Greater Manchester can move more, thrive and belong.

Supporting Resources

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Top tips to encourage equality and inclusion with children and young people

There are many organisations across Greater Manchester who can support you to help reach underrepresented children and young people in your communities. We have developed some top tips to help you encourage equality and inclusion with children and young people in your work.

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Inclusive and positive language guide

As we strive to engage and work with diverse audiences, it is increasingly important that our language and imagery reflects our commitment to reducing inequalities and making moving more something for everyone. GM Moving and partners have created a document together, to provide guidance and set out principles for the use of inclusive language.

Key Partners

GM Moving work with partners across the region to share expertise to ensure we have the knowledge and understanding of equalities and inclusion to deliver affective and meaningful youth groups. There are resources and information pack widely available to support the learning around equality and maintain a standard of anti-discriminatory practice.

The Proud Trust

Sporting Equals

Voice Opportunity Power

#BeeWell