FINA Development Programs Created to Support Federations Worldwide

Following the last Bureau Meeting held in December 2017 in Sanya, China, FINA approved a series of new Development initiatives.

Firstly, as announced previously, a new programme directly aimed at supporting the National Federations, through the distribution of up to 70% of the IOC TV revenue share was presented and approved by the FINA Bureau.

Entitled the FINA Olympic Aquatics Support Programme, this project represents a quadrennial budget of over US$ 21 million, and directly assists the FINA Member Federations in their development activities and comes as an addition to the amount already available through the various FINA Development Programmes – support for the participation in FINA events and prize money – and will be distributed on an equal share basis (up to US$ 25,000 each year for specific projects).

The objective of this initiative is to enable the FINA National Member Federations to develop, strengthen and fine tune their activities in all forms, including all Aquatic Disciplines in the pursuit of improving the organisation and professionalism of their operations and the sport level of their athletes.

Only National Federations that take part in the FINA World Championships, FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) or FINA World Junior Championships are eligible for the programme.

In parallel, FINA is also launching a FINA Continental Support Programme, providing a subsidy to each Continental Association (UANA, CANA, AASF, LEN and OSA). The support focuses on three development areas: administration, promotion (including Swimming for All-Swimming for Life activities), and the organisation of Continental Championships.

The goal of the latter programme is to help the Continental Associations to carry out activities promoting aquatic sports and to offer financial support necessary to run the administrative structure but also to increase the competitive level of the athletes in the respective regions as well as the participation number at grassroots level.

In 2018, FINA will continue and increase the number of Clinics and Schools to train officials, judges and referees. Around 200 Clinics are already settled for the year, while approximately 80 Schools will take place, all led by highly experienced aquatic coaches. Participants will have to be recommended and put forward by their National Federations.

FINA will allocate a total budget of US$ 2’000’000 in Scholarships in order to offer additional opportunities to young talents to get financial and technical support to qualify for the FINA World Championships and/or the Olympic Games. FINA regularly follows the Scholarship holders and reports on their progress and evolution.

Lastly a new FINA National Aquatics Managers Programme aimed at supporting the National Federations in their efforts to manage and administer their organisations will spring this year. This programme will offer the mentorship of recognised experts that will guide the Federations to strategically plan their activities in order to promote aquatics in the best possible way within their countries.

Press release courtesy of FINA.

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