JOA investing in educational development
IN ORDER to achieve its objective of running sport as a business in Jamaica, the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) is making arrangements to invest heavily in the educational development of its 41 members associations.
Ryan Foster, chief executive officer for the JOA, said that in September, administrators from some of the associations will be taking part in its advance sportsmanagement courses to be partly administered by the University of the West Indies.
“There are some things that we are lacking in terms of sporting development in Jamaica. Some associations are more advanced than others, and by advanced, I mean that they have the necessary organisational structure and governance to run a proper sporting association. There are some sporting associations that are members of the JOA that do not have that structure,” Foster explained. “
We want to assist our member associations not just from a funding standpoint, but in terms of the educational base and to inform them of how the sporting association is to be governed.”
He continued: “So in order to get them to be operating at a level that will enable to them to qualify for the Olympics, we have designed advanced sports management courses.”
According to Foster, the programme will also offer courses in human resource management training, budget management, development of business plans and strategic planning.
“Outside of that, we will be offering courses in line with the Olympic programme in terms of proper corporate government and running of national federations, as well as the more current trends of what is happening in the world of sports and their respective sports.
“Some of the courses are going to be conducted at the JOA physically, while others will require them to go overseas in collaboration with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) through the JOA. We are also working very closely with the university (University of the West Indies) in order for them to get at the end of the programme, a certification that is accepted by the University Council,” he added.
‘We want to assist our member associations not just from a funding standpoint, but in terms of the educational base and to inform them of how the sporting association is to be governed.’