Equity, diversity and inclusion at Active Oxfordshire
Tackling inequality and increasing diversity in physical activity & sport is one of the greatest challenges we face. Active Oxfordshire remains committed to working towards becoming a fully inclusive organisation, where people are treated as individuals and receive the support they need in order to have access to the same opportunities. We know for our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion progress to be authentic, we need to embed this throughout our organisation and share the responsibility across the team, trustees and partners.
We recognise that, at times, this means challenging ourselves, feeling uncomfortable and committing resource. As an organisation we have started to explore how we will do this and will continue to build on the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion progress we have already made. We acknowledge that this will be a combination of processes, involving training, individual reflection and collaboration with partners and stakeholders. This will specifically include, listening to those with genuine lived experience to help us better understand the challenges individuals and communities face.

ALT TEXT: Children running in a sports hall
Active Oxfordshire's 'Fighting Inactivty, Tackling Inequality' agenda has Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at it's heart and is closely aligned to Sport England's new 10- year Strategy 'Uniting the Movement. This page sets out our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and our direction of travel for the future:
How we're creating a truly inclusive organisation
- We are an organisation that is explicitly anti-racism and will continue to ensure we, and all those we work with, continue to adhere to this. We will apply the same zero-tolerance approach to all forms of prejudice and discrimination. We believe in physical activity and sport for all people.
- We will strongly support Sport England's plans to tackle inequality in sport and physical activity by adhering to the highest standards of Tier 3 Code of Sports Governance and supporting outcomes set out in the new 10 Year Strategy.
- We are proud to be a diverse organisation including our core team, trustee and ambassadors; but we recognise we must do more to be representative of the communities we serve. This includes amplifying the lived experience voice at all levels of the organisation, to ensure our progress is authentic. By giving our team a platform to discuss and reflect and we aim to keep learning through both experience and formal training.
- Our Active Ambassadors programme enables us to work with a diverse group of individuals who have experience of barriers to physical activity. Our Ambassadors feed into our decision making as do other stakeholders across the community. This includes co-designing interventions which address inequality and exclusion. It also helps to ensure lived experience is at the heart of our decision making process.
- We strive to ensure all terminology, across all communications, is up to date and is inclusive. We recognise this is an ever changing situation. We welcome feedback on our communications so please get in touch if you think we can improve in certain areas.
Why are we adding pro-nouns into our email signatures?
At Active Oxfordshire, we believe that everyone has the right to be who they are and to feel safe and supported in this. As part of our ongoing commitment to embedding inclusivity across our organisation, we encourage any members of the team who are comfortable doing so, to proactively state the pro-nouns that they use. There are many different reasons for doing this; including showing respect, support and allyship for those within the Transgender community, which is something Active Oxfordshire is fully committed to, and ensuring that people are referred to as they wish to be, limiting the risk of assumptions being made.
We also recognise that it is important that our staff and Trustees are able to make individual decisions based on a variety of topics. Adding pro-nouns is a very personal decision and may not be what all members of the team wish to do and we fully appreciate and support this. The use of pro-nouns is, and always will be, a choice for staff and Trustees at Active Oxfordshire.

Embedding Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in everything we do.
“Why can’t all events be fully inclusive?” – a reflection on inclusion in sports events
Promoting Blind Ice Hockey in the UK: Active Ambassador Nathan's Story
Join us on the journey
If you've got any questions or queries about anything on these pages, we'd love to hear from you. We want to be involved in conversations about progressing all our journeys as a collective and recognise that we don't have all the answers. You can find the details of our leads for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion below.

Phoebe Gibbons
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator
Active Oxfordshire
I feel really privileged to be able to join Active Oxfordshire as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator
I have a background in working in Early Years before moving to work for a local charity. I am also a Trustee of a local charity which support people with physical disabilities to be able to engage in learning and leisure activities. I am incredibly passionate about inclusion and the importance of hearing real, lived experience to help to educate and influence change. I have volunteered with both local and national charities as well as worked on Co-production projects to help inform change for disabled people.
I am massive football fan and enjoy engaging in physical activities such as wheelchair basketball and cycling and I also enjoy challenging myself to raise funds for charities which have meaning to me. One of my passions lies with grassroot sports as I believe this is where some people are working hard on inclusion and trying to establish positive environments for those individuals who face barriers to sport and physical activity. I am really privileged to help coach a football team for children with physical disabilities and it's a joy to be a part of this. It is my belief that when truly inclusive environments are created, the possibilities are endless, and the memories last a lifetime.
Favourite quote- 'Diversity is about counting people, inclusion is about insisting they count' Atif Choudhury

Harmy Mattu
Equity and Engagement Manager
Active Oxfordshire
Harmy joined Active Oxfordshire in August 2021 and is a part of our extended Marketing and Communications team. Harmy studied Sports Development and Coaching Sciences at Bournemouth University, before gaining experience in a Secondary School, the Leisure Industry and most recently Project Management.
His role will encompass various projects and interventions including: 1) Developing our work internally and externally around Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. 2) Supporting and facilitating the Active Ambassador Programme as it grows and acts as a key pipeline for community representation throughout all of our work. 3) Finally, working closely with our Communications team ensuring our social media channels are up to date and supporting our events.
Harmy is a lover of sports and most heavily focuses on running, currently training for an Ultra Marathon in 2022.
Favourite Motto: "Life is like riding a bike. To keep your balance, you must keep moving"
- Mobile
- 07741733783
- harmymattu@activeoxfordshire.org