The Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) staged on January 30 at the offices of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) the second of its four seminars Strategic Eduposia, an initiative which the JPA is pursuing in collaboration with the Agitos Foundation of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the governing body for Paralympic sport worldwide.
This seminar addressed Organizational Capacity, with emphasis on sport organizations, federations and clubs, and it also treated legal models for athletes, coaches and associations.
Presenters were JPA President, Christopher Samuda, its Secretary General and Treasurer, Suzanne Harris-Henry and Courtney Lodge respectively, as well as well-known investment banker and Chief Executive Officer of the Credit Union Fund Management Company, Adrian Thompson. JPA Directors, Carmen Patterson and Allan Marsh, were discussants.
Attendees, who were from various sport associations and The G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, were exposed to the fundamentals in achieving organizational efficiencies growth and financial viability and the tools to evaluate and measure same. They were also addressed on the importance for athletes, coaches, managers and associations to have legal models in governing and sustaining relationships and in defining and facilitating business and commercial objectives.
The seminars are part of the Agitos Foundation’s initiative under “The Road to Rio” programme aimed, among other things, to enhance the profile and strengthen the capacity of domestic Paralympic movements while exposing persons to the value of Paralympism.
The first seminar was held last year on December 5 on Strategic Planning. Marketing and Networking and, like the second, was very successful with many calls for a repeat.
JPA President, Christopher Samuda, described the initiative as “a conversation for change, action and transformation” and encouraged participants to treat sport as a business with strict performance criteria and deliverables for all stakeholders.
