From 11 to 13 December, ENGSO volunteers and staff gathered in Vienna at the offices of Sport Austria to mark an important milestone: the conclusion of four impactful years of the CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) Programme focused on equality in sport.

The meeting brought together EWS Chair Tarja Krum, EWS Vice-Chair Sarah Townsend, and ENGSO Head of Programmes and Equality Floriane Poncet-Rief. During the meeting, participants reflected on the achievements of the past years, reviewed activities completed in 2025, and continued shaping the strategic work programme and budget for 2026. Central to the discussions was also the formal closing of four years of CERV-funded work dedicated to empowering grassroot voluntary-based sport organisations to use sport for promoting equality, human rights and democratic values for stronger European communities.

Beyond strategic planning, the visit provided a valuable opportunity to exchange with Sport Austria, whose organisation hosted the meeting and shared recent national developments in gender equality within sport. Sport Austria has made remarkable progress in recent years, significantly accelerating its efforts in several key areas. These include working towards leadership representation, strengthening education and awareness across its member organisations, enhancing data collection, and addressing media representation and portrayal of women and men in sport.

A highlight of the discussions was Sport Austria’s ongoing large-scale study on media representation across sports and different media types in Austria. While the full results are expected to be released later in 2026, preliminary findings were shared during the meeting. These early insights opened meaningful conversations on future cooperation opportunities between Sport Austria, ENGSO, and ENGSO members, particularly in aligning efforts to improve gender equality in grassroots sport through evidence-based advocacy and shared data.

As the CERV programme chapter closes, the meeting in Vienna underlined both the tangible progress achieved over the past four years and the continued commitment of European sport organisations to build on this foundation. The exchange reinforced a shared vision: to further strengthen equality, representation, and fair portrayal in sport across Europe, ensuring that the lessons learned translate into lasting structural change.