December 18 – In a review of its development activities in 2013, FIFA has reported that it has invested $200 million in football development over the past year.
FIFA Director of Member Associations and Development Thierry Regenass said: “2013 was a special year since we started a very important process in implementing the new general regulations for development programmes
Generally, this year has been about reforms, compliance and transparency, and we have been communicating these changes to our members through seminars, workshops, and through our new Member Associations Extranet.”
FIFA points to landmark initiatives in Somalia, Afghanistan and Palestine. 46 new Goal projects were approved by FIFA’s Development Committee during 2013 – now making a total of 640 since Goal’s launch in 1998.
Of 179 grassroots initiatives organised by FIFA in 2013, Somalia came back into the FIFA family with the first grassroots course there since 1986.
And in keeping with FIFA’s mission to go where others are reluctant to tread, FIFA president Sepp Blatter opened three Goal projects during his visit to Palestine in July.
28 member associations joined Performance – the football management programme that has the objective of enabling members to improve the quality of their management through the delivery of specific solutions and services. Performance has now been implemented in 155 member associations, including 38 in Africa.
There were also two income generation initiatives approved as part of the FIFA Income Generation Programme – an initiative that aims to adapt development activities to the local conditions and also provide on-going income or revenue opportunity. The initiative is still in its early days as regards its role and terms of reference.
The first project in Guam was the installation of solar panels which have resulted in a large reduction in the asociation’s utility costs. “One of the many benefits of the installation of solar panels at the Guam Football Association National Training Center is the reduction in utility costs. With the rising cost of fuel, we felt that we had to do our part to use alternative sources of energy to help ease the strain on Guam Power Authority, which supplies electricity to homes and businesses. The solar panels are expected to produce about $81,900 worth of electricity per year, which could essentially zero out Guam FA’s electricity bills,” said GFA president Richard Lai.
“The solar panel project is one of our many sustainability efforts. We’ve seen a great reduction in costs associated with water consumption after the construction of artificial turf pitches, thanks to grants from FIFA’s Goal Project programme. We expect to see similar reductions in terms of electricity costs,” said Lai.
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