Global sharing and learning

By GM Moving | 19 June 2025 | TAGS: Hayley Lever

This week begins an exciting journey for GM Moving and our CEO Hayley Lever.

Hayley was invited to present the GM Moving story at the National Sports and Physical Activity Convention in Melbourne alongside national and local colleagues.

To be able to share our collective story with an international audience is a testament to the hard work that partners right across Greater Manchester and England, have been doing over the last 10 years as part of GM Moving in Action.

Since the Blueprint for Change in 2015, partners in Greater Manchester have been working differently to address inactivity and inequalities, with a culture and systems change approach.

We’ve been:

• Taking a whole systems approach to active lives for all, with embedded researchers helping us to learn about what makes change happen in this complex work.
• One of the original Sport England Local Delivery Pilot areas that has allowed us time and space to test and learn.
• Working in a devolved city-region with a mayor committed to GM Moving in Action
• Integrating physical activity into health and care systems, at neighbourhood, place and city-region levels.

With that, comes a lot of learning as we have observed change, overcome challenges and started to seed and grow a movement for movement locally and nationally.

Hayley Lever said:

"I’m proud of the work going on here in Greater Manchester and the journey we’ve been on. It’s an honour to be asked to go and share our story and our learning overseas.

"I’m also looking forward to learning from other countries who are implementing strategies and policies to deliver on the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity in their place.

"As part of a Global Community of Practice, I will be bringing back ideas, learning and connections to support our work on GM Moving in Action."

In addition to the National Sports Convention, Hayley will be hosted by colleagues from Western Sydney Moving, and Sport New Zealand and sharing learnings with them, their boards and teams.

In Sydney, David Burns from Western Sydney Moving is hosting the visit. He shared some reflections on his invitation and the value of it to them and their work:

"When I first reached out to Hayley Lever a few years ago after being inspired by the incredible work of GM Moving in Greater Manchester with the vision to replicate in Western Sydney. It was just a dream at that point.

"Hayley has been so gracious with her time and has become a mentor and a huge support and continues to be. Her advice and encouragement have been instrumental in shaping WSYD Moving and proving that a systems approach can take root here, even without core funding.

"WSYD Moving now is a registered health promotion charity dedicated to tackling physical inactivity and inequity across Western Sydney. As a community-led, systems-based movement, WSYD Moving brings together cross-sector partners to co-create healthier, more connected communities.

"Its mission is to systemise and enable the community to reduce inequity of access to healthy lifestyles through sport, physical activity, and movement.

"Australia is opening up to the potential of a systems-wide approach to enable for active lifestyles, and her visit couldn’t be better timed. We’re honoured to have you headlining the National Sports Convention in Melbourne and we have taken the opportunity for WSYD Moving Board to meet Hayley for a day of learning and connection in Blacktown, Western Sydney to help with our journey and continue fostering our relationship from opposites of the globe.  

"We are very excited for Hayley visit down under”.

In Melbourne, Hayley will be hosted by the National Sports Convention (NSC) delivering speeches, attending round table discussions and meeting with colleagues from far and wide, including Sport Singapore.

Hayley will be working with other colleagues from England, as part of panel discussions. The theme of the conference is sport’s impact on society and Hayley will be sharing why movement, physical activity and sport matters to her, our work and our communities in Greater Manchester.

Martin Sheppard CEO & Founder of the National Sports And Physical Activity Convention said: 

"The NSC is excited to welcome Hayley to Australia to share her experiences on the GM Moving journey, with the highs, learnings experiences and insights on where she would guide us to take a different approach. Australia is only just starting to look at Place Based Strategies and Policies and so the timing is superb. The NSC is famous for bringing global leaders to the Asia Pacific region to challenge the status quo and help us Change the Narrative… Hayley is the perfect person for this, and we feel genuinely grateful for her joining us over here.”

In New Zealand, Hayley will be spending time with a colleague she met on their tour of the UK last year.

Junior Armstrong, Sport New Zealand said:

"We are looking forward to hosting Hayley Lever in Aotearoa NZ. It presents another great opportunity to learn and share with our international counterparts in how we are striving to support our respective communities to live happier, healthier lives.

"We share the same philosophies in supporting communities facing the greatest need and taking a whole of systems approach to better enable positive conditions that make the biggest difference.

"We have some excited humans looking forward to hearing more from Hayley about the GM Moving story, especially their place-based approach to tackling physical inactivity. It’s even better she is saving the best (NZ) till last!”

We will share updates of Hayley’s trip as news articles, and you can follow her on BlueSky and LinkedIn for her personal updates.