NF's Encouraged To Plan Ahead

Sports Administrators who took part in FASANOC’s Readiness Assessment Tool (RAT) sessions agreed that planning ahead will be a focus for their National Federations.

Earlier this month, 26 National Federations (NF’s) took advantage of the RAT sessions with the collective focus to assess their National Federations and identify gaps against  eight pillars which have been identified as being development activities carried out by sporting organisations.

The RAT, the property of the Oceania National Olympic Committees, is a Web Application that will Assess, Compare and Monitor the current elements that make up a NF in the context of the Pacific Region and compare it to the elements that are expected to be in place in order for a specific activity or program to be able to function.   The assessment is measured across the eight pillars of development, sometimes referred to in planning documents as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

These eight pillars are Governance, Management, Sport Activity, Communication, Finance, Physical Resources, Human Resources and Values and NF’s answered scenario based questions which then suggested  the strengths and weaknesses of the organisations and gaps which could be addressed to move the organisations forward.

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While opening the sessions FASANOC CEO Lorraine Mar emphasized that the RAT was not about scoring “brownie points” but rather NFs making an honest assessment of their development in order to identify and address gaps within the federations.   Referring to a “win win” outcome, Lorraine pointed out that the RAT also provided evidence based information on how FASANOC could assist the NFs move forward in aligning themselves to FASANOC’s Strategic Plan.

Shooting Association of Fiji Athlete’s Rep, Quintyn Stephens said the session was informative and very important for all federations.

"These sessions compel us to express an open and honest view of where we as an NF are at the moment and where we would like to be in the next few years," he said.

"The session also informs us whether we are able to meet the demands of the sport and those that participate."

Quintyn said they had taken part in the session back in 2016 and personally he could see huge improvements for them as an NF.

"But there is a lot more work to be done and we hope that this RAT session can inform us of our shortcomings so we can work on them for the future."

"It will also allow us as an NF to plan ahead and in being proactive."

Touch Federation Fiji Secretary Virginia Elo Nauluvula said the RAT session identified some shortcomings within their NF.

"Being a part of the RAT session allowed me to think ahead and now I can go back to our NF board and held develop a strategic plan to benefit the sport and our player base," she said.

Va'a President Joanne Reiher said it was fantastic to see other NF's taking part in the RAT sessions.

"As an NF we are glad to take the first step to be a part of these RAT sessions as it will only benefit us and ensure our NF is in a good position in the future to help our athletes and NF grow," she said.

The delivery of FASANOC's RAT sessions for NFs  was overseen by FASANOC's newly appointed Sports Education Officer Jane Wong-Niubalavu, with assistance from ONOC’s OSEP Zone 1 Coordinator Jubilee Kuartei.  

The RAT session form part of FASANOC's Sports Education Programme which is funded through support from the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Solidarity Programme and Oceania National Olympic Committees National Activities Programme.