Education is Crucial

“A central element to promote good governance within the global sport movement is education.”

This was one of the assertions made by ICSSPE President Uri Schaefer during his intervention at the 14^th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport, which took place 29^th November 2016 in Hungary, Budapest.

The groups of stakeholders for whom educational programmes are most typically developed are, of course, athletes, their coaches and officers within the sport organisations. However, Uri Schaefer warned, a group that is too-often excluded from education and information are the parents of young athletes. When these parents are envisaging their child's athletic future, there is a risk that they forget the need for overall healthy development. “Parents need to learn about the opportunities, but also about the challenges linked to a professional career in sport”, he warned.

During his speech, Uri Schaefer referred also to the importance of measuring the impact of policies and the success of programmes, process monitoring and evaluation when implementing good governance measures. In addition to internal monitoring structures, sport organisations need external evaluation from agencies whose stakeholders have no vested interest in the sport organization.

While attending the Ministerial meeting Uri Schaefer had the opportunity to also meet with IPC President Sir Philip Craven.