Who needs a sport policy?
We often hear of the need to have a national policy on sport to further the development of sport. Why do we need a sport policy before we can address what needs to be done to further the development of sport in the country or the region? Why waste time on policy? To understand why sport policy is important, we need to understand what policy is and, more importantly, how sport policy impacts and affects anything to do with the development of sport.
Policy is generally understood to be a set of ideas or plans that are used as a basis for making political or business decisions. According to Thomas R. Dye, policy is the philosophy that guides what governments do or choose not to do. Hoy et al (2010) define sport policy as “enacted government policy/ies which seek to regulate the operations and actions of sport organisations, in addition to utilising sport to support objective achievement of other governmental policies and goals.” Sport policy is utilised to guide governments’ as well as sporting organisations’ actions, whilst functioning as a means to regulate the operations of sporting organisations.
Policies enable organisations to maintain order and control over routine procedures and processes, as much as they enable governments to maintain oversight over the national institutional framework of/for sport. In an average organisation, it is fairly easy to maintain control over the various in-house processes via the established management order of a boss, supervisors and employees. However, owing to the number of bureaucracies and private and public organisations responsible for sport, it is impossible for government to micro-manage them by keeping oversight over all the agencies. Thus, the employment of a national policy on sport, such as the current Trinidad and Tobago National Policy on Sport 2017-2027, outlines the framework and plans that guide sporting agencies in an effort to establish a coordinated approach to the national development of sport.
The National Policy on Sport serves as the overarching guiding document which informs the ministry with the responsibility for sport’s strategic plan. This policy exists to guide the ministry in strategically identifying projects and initiatives to be prioritised for action as well as support. This then sets the stage for the executing agencies to identify the areas for their strategic focus. Collectively, the development of these two overarching strategic plans serve to inform the actions of national governing bodies of sport (NGBs). This enables them to identify which areas they should concentrate on as well as their regulatory and reporting obligations during the life of the plan.
This framework ensures that all of the institutions are aligned to one national objective and are working in tandem to deliver on the policy objectives.
It should be noted that the government is not responsible for policy implementation. Government has oversight over policy implementation, ensuring through the respective regulatory frameworks that each organisation is operating in a manner that seeks to bring about the achievement of policy objectives. Policy is transacted and implemented by the various institutions which fall at the lower tier of the institutional framework, namely the NGBs and other sport-serving bodies.
This system is transacted through government funding and assistance to the said organisations, as well as through international funding in the case of organisations such as the IOC and international sporting bodies. It is noteworthy to mention that though government is not ultimately responsible for policy implementation, there are many policy objectives that are the responsibility and/ or transacted by the government, such as funding sport and development of sporting infrastructure.
In such cases, governments are directly responsible for the implementation of some policy measures and the oversight necessary for favourable policy performance.
Without a written policy identifying the various organisations and their respective responsibilities as they relate to sport development, the approaches to sport development would be based on the ideals of persons in the leadership of the various institutions. Such individual visions may cause issues such as duplication of tasks, counter-productivity, wastage, and, ultimately, lead to a situation in which a lot is being done that is not strategically directed and coordinated. Without a formal, written national policy, attempts or interventions which aim to target sport development are all but shots in the dark, which will result in a hit and miss approach.
For sport development to truly take root, it should be firmly embedded in a national policy that indicates not only what the governments’ and stakeholders’ targets are, but also provides detailed plans identifying how the said targets will be met, the timelines relative to same and who is ultimately responsible for what aspects of the plan.
Kervin Jean is head of the Open Campus Academy of Sport. He can be reached at kervin. jean@open.uwi.edu
Policy is generally understood to be a set of ideas or plans that are used as a basis for making political or business decisions. According to Thomas R. Dye, policy is the philosophy that guides what governments do or choose not to do. Hoy et al (2010) define sport policy as “enacted government policy/ies which seek to regulate the operations and actions of sport organisations, in addition to utilising sport to support objective achievement of other governmental policies and goals.” Sport policy is utilised to guide governments’ as well as sporting organisations’ actions, whilst functioning as a means to regulate the operations of sporting organisations.
Policies enable organisations to maintain order and control over routine procedures and processes, as much as they enable governments to maintain oversight over the national institutional framework of/for sport. In an average organisation, it is fairly easy to maintain control over the various in-house processes via the established management order of a boss, supervisors and employees. However, owing to the number of bureaucracies and private and public organisations responsible for sport, it is impossible for government to micro-manage them by keeping oversight over all the agencies. Thus, the employment of a national policy on sport, such as the current Trinidad and Tobago National Policy on Sport 2017-2027, outlines the framework and plans that guide sporting agencies in an effort to establish a coordinated approach to the national development of sport.
The National Policy on Sport serves as the overarching guiding document which informs the ministry with the responsibility for sport’s strategic plan. This policy exists to guide the ministry in strategically identifying projects and initiatives to be prioritised for action as well as support. This then sets the stage for the executing agencies to identify the areas for their strategic focus. Collectively, the development of these two overarching strategic plans serve to inform the actions of national governing bodies of sport (NGBs). This enables them to identify which areas they should concentrate on as well as their regulatory and reporting obligations during the life of the plan.
This framework ensures that all of the institutions are aligned to one national objective and are working in tandem to deliver on the policy objectives.
It should be noted that the government is not responsible for policy implementation. Government has oversight over policy implementation, ensuring through the respective regulatory frameworks that each organisation is operating in a manner that seeks to bring about the achievement of policy objectives. Policy is transacted and implemented by the various institutions which fall at the lower tier of the institutional framework, namely the NGBs and other sport-serving bodies.
This system is transacted through government funding and assistance to the said organisations, as well as through international funding in the case of organisations such as the IOC and international sporting bodies. It is noteworthy to mention that though government is not ultimately responsible for policy implementation, there are many policy objectives that are the responsibility and/ or transacted by the government, such as funding sport and development of sporting infrastructure.
In such cases, governments are directly responsible for the implementation of some policy measures and the oversight necessary for favourable policy performance.
Without a written policy identifying the various organisations and their respective responsibilities as they relate to sport development, the approaches to sport development would be based on the ideals of persons in the leadership of the various institutions. Such individual visions may cause issues such as duplication of tasks, counter-productivity, wastage, and, ultimately, lead to a situation in which a lot is being done that is not strategically directed and coordinated. Without a formal, written national policy, attempts or interventions which aim to target sport development are all but shots in the dark, which will result in a hit and miss approach.
For sport development to truly take root, it should be firmly embedded in a national policy that indicates not only what the governments’ and stakeholders’ targets are, but also provides detailed plans identifying how the said targets will be met, the timelines relative to same and who is ultimately responsible for what aspects of the plan.
Kervin Jean is head of the Open Campus Academy of Sport. He can be reached at kervin. jean@open.uwi.edu