An innovation Competition System Development Initiative – hosted and led by European Athletics and involving the federations of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro – has been taking place in the Montenegro city of Bar since Thursday and will continue until Sunday.
The main purpose of the seminar, which involved 20 participants, is to strengthen the competition structure and event delivery capabilities in the five participating Member Federations.
Additional aims include organising and delivering a competition in the coming months that adds value to the programme of each participating Member Federation; developing and testing a template for measures that can accomplish these aims that then can be replicated with other Member Federations.
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“After the European Athletics-supported Four-Nations match between Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro in Elbasan, Albania last year, it was clear that the provision of financial assistance across several previous years had not significantly impacted those federations’ capacity to deliver successful competition opportunities for their athletes,” commented European Athletics’ Head of Member Federations Development Marko Vasic.
“The rationale for staging this event came after we observed shortcomings in the match’s organisation. Discussions with experts on athletics in the region also highlighted a number of issues influencing the situation, including deficiencies in the national competition programmes, the availability of personnel with appropriate event management skills, and weaknesses in the internal structure and function of some of the federations.
“In line with the priorities in his ‘Leading Change’ manifesto, President Hansen appointed a project team to work with the Member Federation Development Department on the design and delivery of a customised education measure for the four federations that participated in that match, plus Bosnia Herzegovina, to address the situation and produce measurable improvements,” added Vasic.
Competition Development Seminar delivered by European Athletics in Bar, Montenegro for 5 selected fedwrations with similar needs. ALB, BIH, KOS, MKD & MNE are getting tailor made education with lots of practical sessions to improve the organisation of athletic competitions. pic.twitter.com/FnpleafS6B
— Dobromir Karamarinov (@DobriBulgaria) May 3, 2019
The highly-interactive seminar led by lecturers and facilitators Samuel Lopes, Galia Puhaleva and Predrag Momirovic includes the following elements: expert and participant presentations, small work group projects work, process reports and comments, presentations on activities and discussions involving all participants.
The seminar concludes over the weekend with practical sessions on Saturday and a working breakfast on Sunday involving a debriefing of the participants and feedback, followed by the seminar being closed by the European Athletics First Vice President Dobromir Karamarinov.