London Sport, Haringey and Enfield Councils to research Turkish and Kurdish participation in physical activity

London Sport have been commissioned by Haringey and Enfield Councils to explore rates of participation in physical activity among Turkish and Kurdish residents across the two north London boroughs.

With over 30,000 Turkish and Kurdish residents living across the two boroughs, Haringey and Enfield Councils have identified a need to better understand the communities’ current participation in physical activity and sport.

London Sport have been appointed to lead a wide-ranging research project to benchmark current participation levels, and explore future opportunities to increase community engagement with physical activity.

Commencing this month and scheduled to complete by mid-2019, the initial project will involve surveys of Haringey and Enfield residents in Turkish, Kurdish and English languages to complement existing participation data provided by Sport England’s Active Lives Survey.

This research will also explore levels of volunteering, club membership and attitudes to physical activity, to build a comprehensive picture of physical activity in the lives of Turkish and Kurdish residents of Haringey and Enfield.

Once a full picture of participation has been developed, the project will then seek to support the two Local Authorities in brokering relationships with community representatives and local resident groups to explore barriers and opportunities to future engagement with physical activity.

Commenting on the project, Tristan Farron-Mahon, Insight Consultancy Manager for London Sport, said:

“This new project demonstrates true innovation on the part of our partners in Haringey and Enfield Councils.

“It is well-established that the needs of some communities of people in London are not being met with current provision of physical activity. In commissioning this research, Haringey and Enfield Councils have shown a clear commitment to tackling current and future inactivity, and working directly with local communities to enhance physical and mental wellbeing through physical activity and sport.”

Cllr Kaushika Amin, Cabinet Member for Civic Services, Haringey Council said:

“We are pleased to start the new year with this positive news on exploring the physical activity in two groups of our residents in our diverse community, who are Kurdish and Turkish. We look forward to continuing to create sport and physical activity that is enjoyable for all our residents.”

Cllr Yasemin Brett,Cabinet Member for Health,Enfield Council said:

“We are keen to engage with our Turkish and Kurdish communities to better understand what physical actvities they would enjoy taking part in so that we can provide these opportunities for them. Our goal is to encourage residents from all our communities to live healthy, active lives.We also want to provide opportunities for all communities in gaining employment in this growing sector.”

The project is being delivered as part of London Sport’s consultancy service, backed by local connections built by the organisation’s Relationship Management team.

For more information on London Sport’s insight consultancy services, contact Tristan Farron-Mahon, Tristan.farron-mahon@londonsport.org