In the period 04 - 05 December 2018, in Brussels, the second meeting of the sports cluster "Integrity in Sport", organized by the European Commission's Sport Directorate, was held to provide the participants with the opportunity to discuss the challenges in the sector, which include anti-doping, match fixing, sport corruption, gender equality, athletes' representation in sports policy-making processes, and so on. The meeting was attended by Joanna Dochevska, chairwoman of the Bulgarian sports development association, which implements the project "Good Governance in Sport" #GoodGovernanceSport.
#GoodGovernanceSport project is coordinated by the Bulgarian sports development association. #GoodGovernanceSport - 590305-EPP-1-2017-1-BG-SPO-SCP / and is co-funded by Erasmus + Sport of the European Commission / Strategic Partnerships in Sport / partnership of 7 countries, which will last for 30 months, starting on 01/01/2018. The #GoodGovernanceSport project aims to find a way to analyze, collect and promote good practices for appropriate visibility of decisions made and made, responsible bodies and transparency of sports organizations in Europe and partner countries. The first results of the project were presented during the event in the Belgian capital, which is an extensive study of the websites of 56 sports organizations at national and European level, aimed at establishing to what extent sport structures ensure transparency of decisions and financial transactions performed. Full details of the survey data will be published within 2018.
A strong message was given by the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport - Tibor Navracic: "Citizens believe in the integrity of sport and this trust is the basis for the sustainability of the sports sector. Over 6 million EUR have been invested in the field of integrity in sport since 2014 and these projects can show real change at local level in the Member States".
During the event, Ute Haller-Blok, Director of Directorate, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, shared "The future of Erasmus + after 2020 аre the good practices we see in the projects funded under it and we are happy that they grow into sustainable policies and provide a prerequisite for a sustainable future for both the sporting program and the sport sector as a whole in the EU Member States".
"The issues that concern the integrity of sport are a lot and, in order to help improve the image of the sports sector, we must focus on defending the values of sport, promoting education in sport, focusing on the important issues and stepping up the dialogue with all interested parties” were the welcoming words of Yves Le Lostock, Director of Sport Directorate, Directorate - General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.
Barbara Spindler Oswald - Chairwoman of the Sport Working Group, Austrian Federal Ministry of Civil Service and Sport, welcomed the participants: "During the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Global Anti-Doping Code was revised, in line with one of our main priorities - integrity in sport and we strongly believe that events such as this are helping to improve the image of sport and strongly support their realization".
Participants discussed the fact that sports organizations, like everyone else, should adapt to the new realities, and without the support of financial mechanisms such as the Erasmus + program, this adaptation would be much more difficult. Matthew Fontaine, an Erasmus Sport expert, said that 14 projects in the sphere of good governance in sport are being implemented at the moment, and without the support of the European Union, these projects would not exist. Transparency, accountability, trust, values, training, sustainability, integrity, independence, reform, teamwork, development are just some of the processes and values that sports organizations must reflect in each and every action", Fontaine added.
#GoodGovernance
