Earlier this week, the Director of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF), Alex McLin, shared insights about the GEF’s mission and activities with participants of the Executive Master in Global Sport Governance (MESGO). The MESGO programme is designed for sports sector professionals wishing to master the complex dimensions and the diversity of practices related to professional sport on an international level. One of the key objectives is to positively impact the development of sport governance.
During the ethics and integrity module, organised from 6 to 10 March in Mainz and Frankfurt (Germany), Alex McLin shared insights on the monitoring of good governance and ethical principles in practice, through the lens of the GEF. He explained the context which led to the Foundation’s creation in 2019 and outlined its structure as an independent legal entity for safeguarding, tasked with providing a confidential reporting mechanism, conducting investigations, managing cases and implementing compliance checks within its ecosystem.
Alex McLin also shared pragmatic details, such as the procedure applied following the report of an incident of a potential ethical violation.
He went on to explain the GEF’s values-based approach, its culture, and how those are being applied in the Foundation’s daily work, which is based on five strategic priorities, aligned to the organisation’s theory of change.
Alex McLin said after his presentation and exchanges with the MESGO participants:
“We aim to be a front runner and innovator in the important fields of athletes’ safeguarding, sports ethics and integrity matters globally. It is important for us to share our experience and expertise from the Foundation’s first four years of operations and help empower current and future sport leaders to create safe environments for athletes at all levels.”
Other presenters during the session have included Dr Mike McNamee, Professor at the KU Leuven and Swansea University; Dr Tine Vertommen, Researcher at the Thomas More University Antwerp and Member of Council of Europe Pool of Experts on Safe Sport; Lise Klaveness, President of the Norwegian Football Federation; David Grevemberg, Chief Innovation and Partnerships Officer at the Centre for Sport and Human Rights; Adam Pengilly, former skeleton racer and former Member of the International Olympic Committee; Jens Sejer Andersen, International Director at Play the Game; Dr Tegla Loroupe, President and Founder of the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation and multiple world half-marathon champion; and Matthias Berg, Paralympic medallist, lawyer and leadership coach, to name just a few.