India hosts OCP workshop

I have learned a lot during this workshop, and as I’m new to the Paralympic Movement the programme was really helpful.

Programme leads from eight Asian countries attended a four-day training workshop of the Agitos Foundation Organisational Capacity Programme in New Delhi, India.

From 27-30 November representatives from NPCs Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Syria, Yemen and hosts India, as well as one participant from the Nippon Sport Science University, improved their knowledge about the three modules of the programme – governance & planning, marketing & communication and athlete development.

This was the 10th group of countries who attended workshops of the first level of the Organisational Capacity Programme, which is part of the NPC Development Programme. The eight-year programme, launched in early 2017 by the Agitos Foundation, has been made possible by the worldwide partnership agreement between the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Toyota.

As part of the activities, participants worked on their presentation and facilitation skills and developed a plan for delivering national workshops in their respective countries, so they can share the knowledge and experience acquired in India.

The workshop was led by the Agitos Foundation Development Manager Carolin Rickers and educators Crhistine Maleske (Agitos Foundation), Naoe Yasuoka (NPC Japan) and Marwen Ghali (NPC Tunisia).

Rasanjali Priyadarshani, former Para athlete and NPC Sri Lanka governing board member, said:

“It’s my first time in a workshop like this and I think was very helpful, especially to develop my presentation and communication skills. It’s good to know other NPCs and their activities, so we can share knowledge.”

Choening Delma Tenzin, who joined NPC Bhutan two months ago as development officer, said:

“I have learned a lot during this workshop, and as I’m new to the Paralympic Movement the programme was really helpful. I hope that I’ll be able to help my NPC with what I learned here, so we can help bringing change to our community.”

NPC Bhutan was one of the recipients of the Agitos Foundation Grant Support Programme in 2018 – they will soon host a National Paralympic Day to increase awareness about Para sports in the country.

“Our biggest challenge in Bhutan is still stigma, because people are not aware of the Paralympic Movement", said Choening. "But the three modules that we have covered here at OCP will definitely help us focus on the important areas to better implement our project.”