The Global Observatory for Gender Equality & Sport –GO– will hold its annual Gender Equality & Sport+ Conference on 29 September at the International Institute for Management Development –IMD– campus in Lausanne. The 2026 edition will bring together representatives from governments, United Nations agencies, international federations, universities, civil society organisations and businesses under the theme “Measure to Matter”. The professional programme will begin at 09:00, conclude at 17:20 and be followed by a networking session until 19:00.
The meeting will examine the move from basic representation indicators towards a more comprehensive assessment of the outcomes produced by sports policies. Counting registrations, participants or women in leadership positions helps identify inequalities, but does not explain whether girls remain involved in sport, feel protected, participate in decisions or receive the resources they need. The Sport+ concept also extends the analysis beyond competition to include physical education, physical activity and sport, areas commonly grouped under the acronym PEPAS.
From data to decisions
The first session, “From Data to Policy to Impact”, will examine how organisations select, interpret and use evidence when developing strategies, programmes and monitoring mechanisms. The discussion will consider the internal capacities and partnerships that allow data to be incorporated consistently into decision-making and how this evidence influences priorities, resource allocation and accountability. The Observatory will also present its indicators and knowledge products as part of a repository that already covers national sport and gender equality policies in 40 countries and specifically examines legislation on gender-based violence and sport in another 12.
The “What About Girls?” panel will focus on what participation rates can reveal and what they leave out. Participants will consider methods for measuring girls’ experiences, voices, empowerment, leadership, health and long-term engagement in physical activity. They will also examine how to incorporate girls’ perspectives into the design of research and programmes and how to obtain information about young people from social and cultural backgrounds that are frequently under-represented. A registration shows that a girl has entered the system, but not whether she has access to a woman coach, finds a safe environment, participates regularly or leaves after one season.
Budgets, safety and leadership
The third session will bring measurement into the financial sphere. “Investment and Budgeting in Sport” will examine how much public, private and sport-for-development funding actually reaches women and girls, where gaps remain and how institutional commitments can be converted into sustained budgets. Financial data can reveal who receives access to facilities, technical staff, training, equipment or dedicated programmes and help assess the impact of those investments. The panel will bring together specialists in funding, entrepreneurship and research, including Yetsa Tuakli-Wosornu, a sports medicine physician and Founding Director of Stanford’s Sports Equity Lab, and Kitty Macklin, Learn Manager at Women Win, where she leads monitoring, evaluation, learning and impact.
The programme will include two parallel workshops. Sportieq will present tools to prevent and respond to hate speech, while the Sport & Rights Alliance will consider how lived experience and inclusive participation can improve athlete safeguarding systems. The poster exhibition will feature research on sexual harassment and abuse in muaythai, racialised violence and digital surveillance targeting African sportswomen, barriers faced by women coaches, safeguarding boccia athletes with high support needs and the relationship between school sport and women’s leadership. Other speakers include Theren “TJ” Bullock Jr, Head of the FIBA Foundation and leader of its Basketball for Good unit; Khalida Popal, founder of Girl Power Organisation and co-founder of the Afghanistan women’s national team; and Paulo Barone, who helps integrate development, sustainability and gender equality into FIVB strategies.
A mandate built over two decades
The Observatory’s origins date back to MINEPS IV, the conference of ministers and senior officials responsible for physical education and sport organised by UNESCO in Athens in 2003. The Kazan Action Plan, adopted during MINEPS VI in 2017, reinforced the need for international measurement and monitoring mechanisms. GO was formally established in July 2021 with the support of UNESCO and the Swiss Confederation, while the Canton of Vaud, the City of Lausanne and the University of Lausanne were among its founding members. MINEPS VII reaffirmed its mandate in Baku in 2023 with the support of more than 100 Member States.
The evolution of the conference reflects that journey. “Open Fields, Open Questions”, announced for 2022 and held in early 2023 after being postponed, helped identify research questions and priorities. A subsequent meeting with UNESCO in Paris advanced work on a shared strategy for data, indicators and monitoring; “From Research to Action” focused on translating research into practical measures in 2024; and “Connecting for Change” strengthened cross-sector collaboration in 2025. “Measure to Matter” will now add an assessment of how that evidence changes policies, budgets and outcomes related to the opportunities, health, safety, leadership and resources available to women and girls.
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