“The last four years the economic crisis has dominated and influenced most societies and citizens. Across Europe all societies are looking for ways to recover and regain economic and societal development. This is a challenging process and for sure it will involve several stakeholders to address and implement the appropriate and sustainable solutions. The financial crisis started as a result of very bad governance – the recovery of economic and societal development need to be based on good governance. This is one of the reasons why good governance will rank very high on your agenda as leader of a grassroots sport in the coming years. Being an important sector with growth potential, both economic wise and improvement of the life of the citizens in general, comes with expectations to lead and manage the sector in an appropriate way. It is obvious that good governance in the leadership of grassroots sport is necessary. However, we cannot just introduce a given set of rules and regulations and then consider they will ensure good governance. Good governance depends on your context, competences and capacity - it depends on you and your colleagues leadership skills.” Mogens Kirkeby, ISCA President Good Governance in Grassroots Sport (GGGS) project partners concluded that “we need good governance principles and guidelines for grassroots sport. We need good governance principles and guidelines that fits, guides and motivates, both the volunteer and employed leaders in our sector”. The GGGS project, with special contribution from Transparency International Germany, has developed Guidelines for Good Governance in Grassroots Sport. This document is meant to be a tool to enable grassroots sport leaders to assume this important responsibility. The purpose of the guidelines is to provide access to a sport specific governance resource that will improve governance practices at the board and leadership level. It can assist members of boards and committees, executive officers and managers of sport organisations to develop, implement and maintain a system of governance that fits the particular circumstances of grassroots sport, and to provide the basic information to establish and maintain an ethical culture through a committed approach. The guidelines’ objectives are: To help sport leaders (political leaders and managers) better understand their role in Good GovernanceTo guide organisations in their desire and process to adhere to Good Governance in sport principles Access the Guidelines for Good Governance in Grassroots Sport here >>>.

We invited Siu Yin Cheung, ISCA Executive Committee Member and Chairwoman ofThe Gymnastics Association of Hong Kong, China (GAHK) to be interviewed.Here is the story of a very special person, Siu Yin, and the story of a very special organization,The Gymnastics Association of Hong Kong, China.  

 What is the World Social Forum?The World Social Forum is an open space – plural, diverse, non-governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates decentralized debate, reflection, proposal building, experience exchange and alliances among movements and organizations engaged in concrete actions towards a world with more solidarity, democratic and fair world. ISCA and its partner organisation the Italian Union for Sport for All (UISP) attended the World Social Forum (WSF) in Tunis from the 26th to the 30th of March. It was a great opportunity to meet NGOs, associations and representatives of international movements. The Italian Union for Sport for All (UISP) has a history at the World Social Forum: they first participated in the WSF in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007, where the UISP organised a marathon in order to promote basic rights in the district Korogocho, located in the slums of Nairobi. Since then the UISP took part in the WSF congress in Belem, Brazil in 2009 and in Dakar, Senegal in 2011. UISP’s presence became more evident when they organised the Village of Sportforall for the first time at WSF in Dakar. Sportforall offers sport and recreational activities, workshops and conferences. UISP also organised the Sportforall village this year and offered many different sport and motor activities; tournaments and volleyball matches, football, traditional games and dances, both Italian and Tunisian, juggling, acrobatics and break dance. These activities will be realised with local sport clubs and associations. ISCA on the other hand is a part of the International Council of the WSF - the body which coordinates all the activities from WSF. It has been recognized as an integrated part of social international movements, addressing the importance of social sport as a formidable instrument for social inclusion, protest against discrimination, and the building of citizenship and democratic participation. There were several stimulating discussions at the WSF, for example the debate about “Sport, human and social empowerment” or the meeting on “Social impact of big sport event: Confederation Cup and World Football Cup 2014 and Olympic Games 2016 in Brazil". The WSF offered numerous well-known organisations and the possibility to meet and discuss topics with common interests. Here are some of the exciting organizations that participated at the WSF: UISP, ISCA, League de l'Enseignement, UFOLEP, the Tunisian Association of Traditional Games, the NGO Peace Games, and Sport alla Rovescia. During the meeting all participants introduced the characteristics of their organisations explaining how they use sport as a tool for social inclusion and to promote active participation in a democratic society. Tunisian representatives in particular explained about the work they do in order to preserve Tunisian cultural patrimony through the recuperation of traditional games trying to exploit all social and pedagogical value of this activity. One of the results of the meeting was the acknowledgement of the intention to develop relationships for collaboration in exchanges of experiences and educational training. A proposal to establish collaborations for social sport associations emerged during the meeting in order to work together on the development of educational projects. Click here for more information >>>.Photo: Mirko Cecchi / YES! Magazine.

 DTB - Deutscher Turner-Bund has developed, and ISCA is a partner of, the “ActiveAge” project: a transnational project that fosters the exchange of knowledge and experience to counteract the physical inactivity of older people through capacity building for physical activities and sport programs of aging people in well-structured and widespread settings, with the starting point in sport-organisations. The project refers comprehensively and directly to the European Commission, Education and Culture DG (EAC) “2012 Preparatory Action in the Field of Sport” /Section 2 and is going to verify the specially mentioned expectations of “cooperation and networking of relevant parties”. The project has the following main objectives: Development of strategic guidelines and recommendations for the implementation and optimisation of health oriented activity programs for older people in sport clubs and municipal institutionsDevelopment of basics for networks with non-sports civil organisations and official institutions for senior citizensDocumenting successful methods and testing of new co-operations by project partnersFounding and sustainable use of a European network of sports organisations “Active and Healthy Aging through Physical Activity and Sport”, and linking with other European networks/platforms such as HEPA-Europe, AGE-Platform, EUNAPAADevelopment of accurately fitting movement programsRecruitment and qualification of exercise instructors  The Project was launched in February at a kick-off meeting where 13 project partners had time and space to discuss the project concept through the project management, to discuss expectations regarding the outputs of the project, to creation of working groups for the work packages and to define the organisational guidelines. ActiveAge project expects to deliver in the period of 18 months: A list of good practices for concepts/strategies/programs designed for the promotion of movement activities for older people in sport organisationsGuidelines and recommendations for the implementation procedures designed for the promotion of movement activities for older people in the frame of organised sportsGuidelines and recommendations for network incentives in the area of movement and sport for older peopleExchange of experiences concerning the recruiting of instructors for seniors, the education system to train the instructors, the contents and methods of the education measuresA common understanding of qualification standards for instructors for seniors (according to the EQF)/Description of a model to recruit instructors for seniorsDifferentiation and description of target groupsCriteria for the description and validation of activity programs for the target groupsA list of programs for target groups with description of programs along the criteriaImplementation of the programs (What is important? Where are problems?)   For more details contact project leader:Deutscher Turner-BundOtto-Fleck-Schneise 8, D 60528 Frankfurt/M.Tel. +49 6967801136Fax. +49 6967801179www.dtb-online.de Coordinators:Cornelia Weishäupl, cornelia.weishaeupl@dtb-online.dePia Pauly; pia.pauly@dtb-online.deProf. Dr. Herbert Hartmann; hartmann-bensheim@t-online.de