Results of the research of the Sports Committee of the Parliament of Georgia: The highest index of the quality of governance in sports organizations was shown by the Basketball Federation # 1TVSPORT

With the support of the United Nations Development Program and the Government of Sweden, the Sports Committee of the Parliament of Georgia conducted research to assess the quality of governance in sports organizations, which included four main criteria:

• Transparency

• Democratic processes

• Internal accountability and control

• Public responsibility.

By summarizing the mentioned components, an individual index was formed, where the Georgian National Basketball Federation has a high rate.

We offer the article published on the website of the Georgian First Channel www.1tv.ge on the research conducted by the Sports Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, where you will get detailed information about the research. 

Source: www.1tv.ge ➥ What is the quality of governance in sports organizations – the results of the research of the Sports Committee of the Parliament of Georgia #1TVSPORT

At the initiative of the Sports Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, with the support of the United Nations Development Program and the Government of Sweden, an interesting research was conducted to assess the quality of governance in sports organizations.

The project examined 21 sports organizations in detail, most of which are federations, although there were three regional sports organizations.

„The issue of good governance in sport is so relevant that the Council of Europe is already working on an international agreement that will oblige member states to pursue appropriate policies to increase the quality of governance in sports federations“, – said the main researcher of the project, co-founder of the organization “Sport for Development – Georgia”, Anatoli Korepanov.

Sports organizations were evaluated by four main criteria: transparency, democratic processes, internal accountability and control, public responsibility. By summarizing the mentioned components, an individual index was formed, where the Georgian National Basketball Federation had the highest rate – 58%; The second was the Georgian National Olympic Committee (57%); Third – the Rugby Union (41%).

Results of the research: Individual Index

„As you are aware, the state invests a lot of resources in sports. In order to increase the efficiency of the money spent, it is important that sports organizations are strengthened as much as possible and the risk of corruption is significantly reduced. The problems are not only in Georgia in this regard. Let’s recall FIFA Corruption Scandal…

The main problems in Georgia are elections, ethics issues, conflict of interest… There is a situation when the ruler of the federation is not accountable to his members. It is also problematic that the federation consumes state resources but does not publish where and how it was spent“, – Continues Anatoli Korepanov.

Results of the research: Transparency

The Football Federation is not among the 21 organizations reported. The project manager talks about the reason:

„In 2018-19, the first research was conducted in which five federations participated – football, handball, tennis, weightlifting and water sports. In the second study we also had communication with the Football Federation, but they held back and had no desire to participate. However, according to a previous research, there are data from the Football Federation“.

Results of the research: Democracy

The results of the research are not favorable – the overall index of good governance is 23%.

„Once again it appeared that we have many problems and challenges. This study does not prove that any federation is corrupt or less effective, we are simply saying that these are flaws that can negatively affect the activities of the organization.

We introduced the results of the research to the federations and thought about what steps should be taken to improve governance. For this purpose, at the end of 2020 we met with the federations recognized by the Ministry. We held a discussion, on the basis of which we developed a code of good governance in Georgian sports. This is a document that requires – for federations that receive a certain amount of money from the state, to meet specific standards“.

Results of the research: Accountability

When will the document come into force?

„The document has already been prepared, discussed with the federations. The Sports Committee of the Parliament of Georgia has officially sent this document to the Ministry of Sports. Due to some organizational changes in the ministry, no concrete steps have been taken yet. However, we expect the Ministry to adopt this document soon.

We are not saying that this code should enter into force as soon as the order is written. Our approach is to give federations the time and incentive to start implementing over time. And the document will be fully operational in 2-3 years. Then the Ministry of Sports will ask the federations to fulfill the principles provided by the Code of Good Governance in Georgian Sports“, – says Anatoli Korepanov.

Results of the research: Social responsibility

Source: www.1tv.ge