Building a Safer Future: Empowering Coaches Through Safe Sport Education in Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan, conversations around athlete safety and abuse prevention have historically taken a backseat in sports education.

With little formal training on safeguarding issues, coaches and athletes have often lacked the knowledge and tools needed to recognize, report, or prevent misconduct. Cultural barriers and limited awareness have further contributed to underreporting and mishandling of abuse cases in sport settings.

Recognizing this urgent need for change, Ayan Khankishiyeva launched the “Building a Safer Future” initiative — a groundbreaking program aimed at equipping future coaches with essential Safe Sport knowledge and practical skills. Through a series of interactive and scenario-based seminars, the initiative focused on creating a cultural shift in how athlete safety is approached in Azerbaijan’s sports system.

Delivered at the Azerbaijan Sports Academy (ASA), the program brought together 94 participants, including students, educators, and aspiring coaches. Over the course of three 120-minute seminars, attendees explored critical topics such as boundary-setting, ethical coaching behavior, recognizing signs of abuse, and proper reporting procedures. Each session was facilitated by experts, including a safeguarding officer and mental performance coach, and was designed to be both engaging and practical.

The results were impressive. Post-training assessments showed that 91% of participants achieved passing scores, demonstrating significant gains in understanding Safe Sport principles. More notably, 89% of participants reported feeling confident in their ability to identify and report misconduct — a key step toward breaking the silence that often surrounds abuse in sport. Participant satisfaction was also high, with 95% rating the training as highly useful and applicable to real-life coaching environments.

What sets this initiative apart is not just the knowledge it delivered, but the institutional changes it set in motion. Collaborations with the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan and ASA have already begun to bear fruit. Safe Sport training is now being integrated into the coaching curriculum at the academy, and conversations are underway to make such training mandatory for all future coaches. This marks a significant policy shift that could lead to more consistent and widespread safeguarding practices across the country.

Despite only delivering three seminars instead of the planned four, the program exceeded expectations in terms of reach and impact. It helped break long-standing cultural taboos around discussing abuse and created a safe space for open dialogue. The interactive format encouraged participation and reflection, empowering future coaches to be proactive guardians of athlete well-being.

Looking ahead, the initiative aims to build on this momentum. Plans include embedding three new Safe Sport modules into ASA’s curriculum and hosting annual workshops to keep the conversation alive. By institutionalizing these practices, Azerbaijan is taking vital steps toward creating safer, more supportive environments for its athletes.

The “Building a Safer Future” program is more than a seminar series — it’s a movement toward cultural change in Azerbaijani sport. And it’s just getting started.