Good governance webinars conclude successfully
The fourth and final good governance webinar of a series organised in 2024 by the IOC for its recognised sports organisations took place on 11 December, focused on development and solidarity, representing Dimension D of the IPACS Sports Governance Benchmark. More than 40 representatives from around 30 organisations got together to discuss the importance of transparent redistribution of development funds, respect for the principles of sustainable development and social responsibility, education programmes, and anti-discrimination in good governance measures.
IOC Deputy Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer Giuseppe Deleonardis opened the session, emphasising that development and solidarity are at the core of the business models of responsible sports organisations.
IOC Ethics, Compliance & Governance Manager Camila Tort proceeded to highlight specific recommendations related to this dimension and gave practical examples of how to implement them. Angela Rianto, Head of Finance and Operations from Olympic Solidarity, also explained how her department monitors its use of funds.
Learning from each other
Presentations by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the World Squash Federation (WSF) showed that there is already a lot of best practice available from which other organisations can learn.
William Glenwright, the ICC’s General Manager for Development, provided an overview of the ICC’s priorities in the development of cricket and on how it ensures that development funds are distributed in a transparent manner. Julie Marks, who serves on WSF’s Sustainability Task Group, explained the development and implementation of the federation’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2023-2030 and its Climate Action Plan. Saurav Ghosal, Co-Chair of the WSF Athletes’ Commission, was also present to offer an athlete’s perspective on the importance of sustainability initiatives.
After these presentations, the webinar participants engaged in a role play exercise on implementing integrity awareness and education programmes.
As a result of the positive feedback received on this year’s webinars, discussions are now underway to implement a similar webinar series in 2025 targeted at a wider audience. Watch this space!
Background information
This webinar series has been designed specifically for IOC-recognised sports organisations, with the aim of reaching solid levels of good governance in sports organisations. In particular, the participants learnt how to move from theory to action and implement the recently updated Basic Universal Principles of Good Governance within the Olympic Movement (BUPGG), together with the IPACS good governance benchmark.
The themed sessions also allowed participants to exchange good practices, share their common challenges, learn from practical examples developed by IPACS, and benefit from the support provided by the IOC Ethics and Compliance team. To maximise accessibility, sign language interpretation was provided during each of the sessions.