Member protection policies and procedures

For play, active recreation and sport organisations

As the kaitiaki of the system for play, active recreation and sport, Sport NZ is committed to supporting organisations to implement best practice to ensure the wellbeing of all participants and ensure their involvement in play, active recreation and sport is kept fun, safe and inclusive for all.

Sport NZ will help organisations promote member protection principles. Member protection in play, active recreation and sport means:

everyone’s participation in play, active recreation and sport should be safe, fair and inclusive
participation in play, active recreation and sport should be a quality experience that promotes being active for life.

To assist clubs and national, community and regional organisations with the above, Sport NZ has developed member protection policies which will be supplemented with further guidance, templates, knowledge-sharing and training.

These are living documents that will be updated as needed to reflect legislative and best practice changes as well as feedback and consultation relating to the practical experience of the organisations within the play, active recreation and sport system.

Who are these member protection policies for?
This is a resource for all organisations in play, active recreation and sport to:
- recognise the needs, rights and views of everybody to enjoy involvement in play, active recreation and sport and have a quality experience
- promote accountability and responsibility for keeping everybody safe and creating a fair and inclusive environment for play, active recreation and sport
- self-assess and inform the development of their member protection policies, plans and programmes, including for human resource and training needs
- direct staff to training opportunities and resources to upskill in this area
- support staff and volunteers who provide services, training and programmes to apply good practice for effective action.
What these policies do not include
These policies do not:
- replace what organisations currently have in place in terms of policies, procedures and training on member protection, if what is in place is up to date and working well
- provide complete guidance for implementation (for example, not every policy will be applicable for every type of organisation). While recognising the need for a comprehensive, system-wide approach to member protection, these policies and procedures offer information to help organisations focus on a set of principles to build from.
How to get the most out of these policies

These policies are an interactive tool to assist organisations on their member protection journey. Throughout the policies, users can insert details specifically relating to their organisation. There are also links to external websites for more information.

Organisations intending to adopt the policies should work through each policy to understand the reason behind the policy and how it applies and works for their organisation.

It is important organisations understand what information the policies contain and how to implement them in a real-life situation.
Feedback

These policies will be reviewed regularly in line with legislative change and global best practice. Feedback from all organisations to enable this suite of policies to grow and develop will be an important step in maintaining a safe, fair and inclusive system. Please send your feedback to integrity@sportnz.org.nz
Disclaimer

These template policies are provided as a useful resource but will need to be tailored to your organisation’s needs and any existing policies and procedures. In adopting any of the policies, they will be subject to the constitution or governance rules of the organisation. Organisations will need to follow their internal process requirements when adopting any new policy, as outlined in the constitution or governance rules. The content of the policy suite is consistent with New Zealand law but does not constitute legal advice. Organisations may need to obtain legal advice in implementing the policy templates.