Discover how the French Rugby Federation amplifies the impact of its Fresco!
The FFR and its Rugby Ecological Fresco
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) is the governing body for rugby in France, overseeing its promotion, development, and regulation. Founded in 1906, the FFR plays a central role in the organization and management of XV and 7-a-side rugby in France, as well as in the promotion of rugby values. It also strives to guarantee player safety, train qualified referees and set up development programs for young talents. Thanks to its long history and commitment to excellence, the FFR plays a major role in the French sport sector.
More recently, the French Rugby Federation decided to support rugby clubs in their social and environmental initiatives. This support led to a number of projects, including the “Rugby Ecological Fresco” whose idea is to show that rugby can be played in a more ecological way on a local scale.
The Rugby Ecological Fresco: What are we talking about?
Launched a year ago, the French Rugby Federation’s (FFR) Ecological Fresco project aims at raising environmental awareness among the rugby community through the dissemination of an educational fresco with strong ecological messages and sustainable values about biodiversity and environmental protection.
Therefore, the FFR encourages its members, ranging from players to supporters, to be more aware and committed to preserving the planet and reducing the environmental impact of rugby. This fresco illustrates the FFR’s commitment to a more responsible sport, respectful of nature, while inspiring the rugby community to take action for a more sustainable future.
In 2022-2023, the FFR tested the Ecological Fresco on 120 people and 16 facilitators who in turn conducted 22 ecological fresco workshops on the French territory.
Today, the FFR has two key objectives:
- Establishing its legitimacy in raising awareness and mobilizing licensees on the subject through the massive dissemination of the fresco. Over the next 5 years, they aim to have “frescoed” 50% of French rugby in every region, and ensure that 50% of rugby clubs run a fresco every season.
- Involving rugby players in the development of new practices by building action plans based on the solutions emerging from the frescoes’ workshops. The 5-year objective is to have 30% of clubs committed to all or some of the proposed measures, and 50% of clubs with an organisation taking into account these issues.
This commitment is all the more important given that the FFR has positioned itself as a federation with a social mission, and wishes to assert and further embody its strong desire to act on social issues.
For the last four months, ScaleChanger has supported the FFR as part of their participation in “Impact 2024”, with the aim of promoting and scaling the Ecological Rugby Fresco, and thus using sport as a tool for social impact.
Scalechanger’s support mission to the FFR
In June 2023, ScaleChanger started to support the French Rugby Federation (FFR) in the dissemination. The ambition was to help the FFR amplify the impact of the Fresco and work on a strategic plan.
This project was divided into four working sessions. The FFR team defined the topics to work on between each session, with the aim of maximising the effectiveness of the cooperation.
- First of all, we collectively tried to identify and understand the current key success factors, as well as the real or potential obstacles to the project’s development.
The first stage consisted in getting a detailed understanding of the project’s challenges, current situation, successes and limits, in order to identify the areas where the ScaleChanger’s expertise could be needed. The FFR and ScaleChanger thus agreed on the objectives of the mission and on the working methodology.
- The next step was to identify the acceleration drivers of the project.
During the second phase, The FFR and ScaleChanger went through the key levers to accelerate the project, and managed, through a benchmark, to identify and review the possible options for the project’s development and the scaling strategy.
- Actions from the development plan were prioritised for a better implementation of the scaling process and for greater impact.
During the third phase, areas of the project in terms of feasibility and impact were analysed and an in-depth work on the project’s value proposition for the various stakeholders was carried out to identify the most relevant options.
- Finally, a concrete plan of action was built.
The fourth phase of the project consisted in the design of two deliverables:
- The first one aimed at guiding the project team for the upcoming years: A 3-year action plan was formalised including a breakdown of the selected options and their implementation.
- The second one -intended for internal communication, in particular with FFR bodies- included the key elements of the project: manner: ambition, added value, etc.
Results after ScaleChanger’s support
ScaleChanger’s expertise enabled the FFR to clarify the project’s ambition, to build a 3-year roadmap, to identify the key stakeholders and to identify the actions to be implemented and their timing.
Through the process, the Rugby Ecological Fresco was able to identify the challenges that it will have to tackle in order to embark and raise awareness among everyone on global warming and its consequences. This fresco shows that everyone, from all spheres of society, can act and work towards the environmental transition both professionally and personally, even in the realm of physical activities.
What remains is to ensure that tomorrow’s actions are implemented on rugby fields all over France and even, who knows, beyond…
During the World Cup, places around the stadiums showcased the Rugby Ecological Fresco. Let’s hope that fans from all countries have taken this initiative home with them!
