The European Youth Olympic Festival Bakuriani 2025 was an important success in safeguarding, thanks to the close collaboration between the EYOF Bakuriani 2025 Organizing Committee, IGNITX and the European Olympic Committees (EOC). Together, we developed and implemented a comprehensive safeguarding framework, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for all participants.

This effort led to the creation of a strong legal framework, stakeholder-specific codes of conduct, tailored awareness materials, live training sessions, video training for young athletes, and an effective safeguarding unit with full case management and investigation protocols.

Nini Ninua, EYOF Bakuriani 2025 Safeguarding Officer, emphasized the importance of this collaboration:

Thanks to this approach, safeguarding awareness reached every delegation, with 100% engagement—every Chef de Mission signed the Code of Conduct and appointed a Delegation Safeguarding Point of Contact. Additionally, six Venue Safeguarding Officers were fully trained and actively present on-site, contributing to a safe and well-managed event.

The initiative also reached the young athletes through the Olympic EOC Young Ambassador programme that incorporated a fun and engaging activity for transgressive behaviour awareness on-site.

Daniela Negreda, Advisor and Business Strategist at IGNITX, highlighted the shared success:

This initiative is an extension of the Building European Safe Sports Together (BESST) project funded by the European Commission as part of the Erasmus+ Programme.

 Together, we are setting new standards for safeguarding in sports events for future editions of the festival and beyond!