Partners organised the expert focus group in the five (5) participating countries:

United Kingdom: September 14, 2021

Spain: September 15, 2021

Italy: September 16, 2021

Greece: September 22, 2021

Belgium: October 22, 2021

During virtual meetings, the project partners held discussions with experts on the prevention of violent extremism, identification of populations at risk of violent extremist recruitment and radicalisation, and its prevention by using sport as a tool for social inclusion. The meetings also encouraged participation of youth groups in order to gain exposure to different perspectives and opportunities that contribute to information gathering related to good practices and experiences concerning the use of sport as a tool for social inclusion of people at risk. The duration of each expert focus group was 90 – 120 minutes, while all of them were organised in a virtual manner, mainly due to the ongoing covid-19 restrictions. In total, 61 experts and panellists gave their opinion and discussed how sport can be used as a tool of integration for youngsters at risk to find relevant good practices in each country, including country specific key insights. The content of each focus group discussion was analysed by all respective coordinators (project partners) in order to find and understand the emerging themes and concepts within each country. Also, the content was also analysed to find each country-specific insight.

Lastly, the results of the content analysis of each focus group discussion were structured in three different levels: 1st level – Relevant concepts expressed by the participants, 2nd level – Grouping Categories and 3rd level – Participants’ Literal quotes. As a final step, each partner delivered a report on the expert focus group discussion that was organised in their national implementing country. The aim of these reports was to compile all information discussed related to the good practices and experiences on the use of sports as a tool for the social inclusion of people at risk, focusing on youngsters. At the same time, a report including an overview of the results and main points from all countries was produced. As a result of the above mentioned activities, the Focus Group discussions were instrumental to identifying emerging themes at country level and producing shared outcomes that would be incorporated in the Handbook at a later stage.

The results of each National Expert Focus Group can be found in the documents listed below: