Gender equality is one of the founding democratic values of the European Union and a fundamental principle of Olympism. In merit, “Members of the Olympic Movement (...) set a minimum target of 30 per cent for women’s representation in their governing bodies (...), and to adopt accompanying measures that will help them reach this goal” (Olympic Agenda 2020, 11). Notwithstanding, the data shows that the implementation of gender equality in leadership and decision-making positions is lacking far behind in the European NOCs, despite existing policies and strategies. Women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership positions with the (European) NOCs currently having only 5 female Presidents and 11 Secretary Generals overall, despite the signs of progress at IOC level. In this regard, GAMES aspires to change the status quo, modus operandi and create pathways for women to get into leadership and decision-making positions. Hence, the GAMES project is expected to play a crucial role in enabling partner NOCs (and their members) to implement relevant policies in order to reach gender equality in leadership positions.

GAMES aim to improve gender equality in the key leadership and decision-making positions of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) by promoting structural changes in the governance, enhancing the understanding of existing cultural barriers and encouraging the NOCs to work with their member federations to create a sustainable change.

◉ Management of all project activities and consortiums interactions in order to guarantee a constructive and high-quality implementation of the project activities.

◉ Monitoring of all project activities in order to pursue the project purposes in the most time/cost-effective manner.

◉ General investigation on the status of NOCs regarding the implementation of policies for gender equality in leadership positions.

◉ Definition and validation of a “Global Pool of Actions” divided on key areas (i.e structural changes, culture, pathways for women...) to implement policies to boost gender equality across European NOCs.

◉ Creation and implementation of tailored Action Plans to promote gender equality in leadership positions and tackle the gender gap for each of the partner NOCs.

◉ Communication and dissemination of the “Global Pool of Activities” to other NOCs and relevant sports stakeholders.