The Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation - Who They Are, What They Do and How They Can Help You

Today I went to London for a meeting with Chris Lillistone, Insight and Innovation Manager, at the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation. Although I have been involved in sport and fitness both as an athlete and a trainer for over 20 years I hadn't heard of the WSFF until a few weeks ago. I thought it was time I had a chat with them, found out who they are and what exactly they do for women's sport.

They share some fantastic offices in Holborn with Sport England and Chris, very kindly, met with me for over an hour to talk about the history of the WSFF, what projects they are involved with now and where they see themselves in the future. Of course as part of the meeting I had to ensure they were equally aware of the very important work I do with teenage girls here in Poole!

Sue Tibballs is Chief Executive of the WSFF having taken over the role just over 3 years ago. Shortly after her appointment the Women's Sports Foundation changed its title to the WSFF and with this change came a new emphasis for the charity. Where previously they had concentrated on athletes they now had a new broader focus to increase participation in fitness for all women. Their vision is for "activity to be a part of all women's and girl's lives."

The WSFF are mainly funded by Sport England and the majority of their time is spent communicating and working with the various sporting National Governing Bodies (such as the Royal Yachting Association, Football Association, British Judo, Britsh Cycling etc etc - 47 in total) to discuss new initiatives for retaining women in sport and encouraging more women to participate. Their emphasis is on delivering what the customer, ie women, need and want and how to fulfill this.

They have recently secured funding from the Big Lottery Fund which will enable them to extend they field of work. They will spend this money on a number of Focus Groups with 9-16 year old girls looking at the reasons why this age group become disengaged with sport specifically considering competition, personal identity and the impact of social groups on participation. Following on from these focus groups the WSFF will produce a report with suggestions to break these cycles.

The WSFF produces a lot of reports! In fact their main role is to help and guide those of us that deliver the programmes to women and girls. Their website is a hive of information relating to every aspect of women's sport and fitness.

They do have another role though and that is to encourage policy review and change. As they say; "the size of the crisis, along with the magnitude of the potential reward, calls for over-arching political leadership." They are calling for more public money to be spent on raising women and girl's participation levels not just in sports but in all fitness.

Later this year the WSFF are launching a new initiative "She Moves". A campaign for women; led by women. It will utilise social media to bring programmes together all with one focus; to increase the participation of women in sport by delivering what women want. It is planned that this initiative will be extended to include "She Moves Children" and "She Moves Babies".

There are exciting developments happening at the WSFF. As women and girls we need to be part of it. We need to get across our views of what we want and need to make sport and fitness more appealing to us.

Have a look at their website and if you have the opportunity to be part of one of their focus groups I encourage you to jump at the chance. It may well be the best opportunity you get to let your views be heard not just by the WSFF but also by politicians and members of the National Governing Bodies who ultimately make the decisions.

Maggie Ayre is a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Adviser for Teenage Girls. Her goal is to get every teen girl active. Not only does fitness and good nutrition lead to a healthy body it also has been proven to increase self-confidence, self-esteem and even lead to better exam results!

Maggie's blog http://www.maggieayre.com offers advice and guidance for parents, teenage girls and fitness professionals.

The Philippine Construction Sector - Laying A Solid Foundation For The National Economy

With the global infrastructure markets developing at rapid rates, it has become imperative for all developing countries to keep pace with this growth, by having healthy building and construction sectors of their own. The overall worth of the global construction industry stands in excess of $ 4.6 trillion and Asian countries account for the lion's share in this figure. Philippines is one of the Asian countries, which, along with China and Korea, have contributed to put Asia firmly in the international construction industry map. Trade events like the Philconstruct 2011 are likely to boost the growth rates of the Asian construction industry further.

For a proper and balanced growth of any business sector, the presence of a strong and well-functioning regulatory body is imperative. In Philippines, the Construction Industry Authority of Philippines, or the CIAP, performs this duty in a truly commendable manner. The CIAP, which was incepted in 1980, looks into all the various facets of the construction businesses and encourages the use of new and improved products, to attain greater manufacturing efficiency. The results of such sincere efforts are for all to see at the Philconstruct event.

Thanks to the well-maintained structure of the construction industry in Philippines, a large number of domestic companies are actually venturing into the sector. The largest among them all is the Philippine National Construction Corporation. The overall demand and popularity of construction products and equipments can easily be gauged from the number of professional visitors at the Phil construct, which, at more than 54000, is remarkable indeed.

Construction industry activities are not only about cement, concrete and the like, however. Professionals from this sector need to be conversant with the use of several other products and accessories, like paints, engineering tools, heating and cooling systems, safety equipments and IT applications. A visit to this event gives a clear view of the truly extensive range of products and services that find extensive usage in the building and construction sector.

In addition to the building construction sector, also of importance are the industrial construction and civil construction sectors in the global markets. In order to match up with the leading producers of construction goods, manufacturers in Philippines too need to make use of new and sophisticated machines and equipments, to enhance the quality and efficiency levels of their infrastructure services. These efforts are reflected at the Philconstruct 2011 trade show.

With Asia having already emerged as worldwide leader in the building and construction business, the focus has now shifted towards creation of eco-friendly, 'green' buildings. The authorities in Philippines are aware of this trend and, over the years, the country is likely to contribute more to the global construction sector.

Angelina is a travel author who has written many articles that keeps on guiding the travelers throughout the world like Philconstruct 2011. Angelina is an avid traveler who has traveled more than 22 countries. She also talk about various shows like Philconstruct that explains how audience can enjoy shows while they are on vacations.