The County Sports Partnership Network has been relaunched under the new name of ‘Active Partnerships’.

Established as a nationwide network nearly 20 years ago, ‘CSPs’ have become a significant part of the sport and physical activity landscape across England, by building strong local networks to deliver programmes in collaboration with different stakeholders.

Lee Mason, Chief Executive of Active Partnerships, explained that the name change was in recognition of the fact that “the needs of our partners and communities are changing”.

He said: “Levels of physical activity remain worryingly low and are affected by a complex system of influences which means no single organisation or intervention can create sustainable change at scale.

“So we need think and act differently, and over the last year we are have been changing to strengthen our approach to better tackle these issues. This has included confirming our long-term future partnership with Sport England to help deliver the national strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, and a shift from programme delivery to a whole system, place-based approach.

“Our name change to Active Partnerships is the culmination of this work and we believe it better reflects our role and purpose.

“The term ‘active’ highlights the broad spectrum of sports and physical activities we embrace, the dynamic and agile way that we approach our work and our mission to increase levels of engagement in sport and physical activity.

“The term ‘partnerships’ reinforces the collaborative nature of our work and our core purpose to create the conditions for an active nation by engaging communities, building understanding and insight, brokering cross-sector partnerships and influencing policy and practice.”

Find out more about Active Partnerships on its ConnectSport directory page. To add your organisation to the directory, contact hello@connectsport.co.uk.