Grange: Sport governance structure has to change

The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has called for significant changes in the governance structure for sport.

Minister Grange made the call in an address to the Commonwealth Sport Ministers’ Meeting in the Gold Coast, Australia on the margins of the Commonwealth Games. The address was given on the Minister’s behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Mr Denzil Thorpe.

The Minister referred to Jamaica, where the sport sector includes more than 40 active national associations and federations which are registered as nongovernment organisations. However, there is a direct relationship with government which provides funding, facilities and other critical support.

Minister Grange said, “the governance structure has not kept pace with the dynamic growth and meteoric rise of sport and the increasing levels of participation in physical activities — both recreational and competitive — within the country.”

According to Minister Grange, “sport is cross-cutting and has an impact on nearly all sectors of Jamaican life. Therefore, the development of a coherent governance system is essential for effective, efficient management and execution of sport programmes, particularly as sports is a vehicle for advancing the development agenda.”

The objective of the Commonwealth Sports Ministers meeting was to ‘agree joint strategies and collective action to strengthen policy coherence to maximise the benefits of investing in sport.’

Delegations from 45 Commonwealth nations attended the meeting and agreed to take action to strengthen the alignment and coordination of sport policy implementation, in particular across government and with the Commonwealth Games Federation, affiliated member associations and the broader Commonwealth sport movement, but also working with a broad range of stakeholders.