Strong communities

A key GM Moving priority is to increase community-led, designed and owned initiatives and assets and to grow people’s voice, power and connectivity in local places and spaces. Creating the conditions for people to be active participants in all senses of the word - building stronger communities where all can thrive.   

In Greater Manchester (GM), power, voice and ownership is unequal and unrepresentative. This reflects and exacerbates inequalities and inequity and is a barrier to more active lives.

People want to be more involved in the decisions that affect them. We’ve seen as a movement how decision-making is improved when shaped by people’s lived experiences.

Different people having different conversations, in different places leads to different actions. Involving people and growing local assets in this way is a key enabler for system change, helping to create the conditions for a more active GM. 

Physical activity and sport has a strong and unique role to play in connecting people and organisations in communities – it acts as a ‘social glue’ generating community belonging, identity and togetherness. It also has a role to play in wealth creation and distribution in GM. If decision-making rests with people at a local level, resources can be better channeled to where they are most needed, helping to generate more equitable community health and wealth across GM.

By working together in this way we can contribute to realising the recommendations and goals set out by The Greater Manchester Independent Inequalities Commission in ‘The Next Level: Good Lives for All in Greater Manchester’;

“Building a more equal city-region means creating structures where everyone can have a stake and a say in the things that affect their daily lives: be it their work, homes, high streets or green spaces… Processes that do not actively seek to redress these inequalities will inevitably reproduce them.”