Grant Support Programme to fund 28 para-sport projects in 2014

“It is the biggest of all our development activities and has already had a major impact on para-sport within less than one year after the launch of the first edition."

The programme, launched in 2013, aims to support the development of both summer and winter para-sports through funding projects from National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), Regional Organisations (ROs), International Federations (IFs) and International Organisations of Sports for the Disabled (IOSDs).

This year, the Agitos Foundation called for applications for projects seeking to improve the support, training and competition needs required at every stage of a para-athlete’s career. There was also a move towards encouraging applications from NPCs and Regional Organisations looking to work collaboratively and therefore improve networking between countries and regions.

Director of the Agitos Foundation, Georg Schlachtenberger, said: “We are delighted that 76 member organisations, applied to the Grant Support Programme this year.

“It is the biggest of all our development activities and has already had a major impact on para-sport within less than one year after the launch of the first edition.

“The quality of the applications in 2014 was incredibly high and the selection process hugely competitive, which highlights the great desire of our Membership to build development activities in their regions.”

Activities funded this year include:

• A project to develop alpine skiing and snowboard in Latin America

• Development of wheelchair tennis in the Caribbean

• Funding towards a Baltic Summer Youth Games

• Widening the reach of the Paralympic Movement in Benin

• A snow sports talent identification programme for women and young people in New Zealand

• Athlete development for the 2015 All African Games

A full list of the successful projects can be found below:

NPCs and ROs

• African Paralympic Committee, athlete development for the 2015 All African Games

• Argentinian Paralympic Committee, raising awareness of the Paralympic Movement in Argentina

• Benin Paralympic Committee, widening the reach of the Paralympic Movement

• Democratic Republic of Congo Paralympic Committee, strengthening the technical and administrative capacity in Central Africa

• European Paralympic Committee, Youth Ambassadors for Europe

• French Paralympic Committee, Project Youth Has Potential (Project Jeune a Potentiel)

• Ghanaian Paralympic Committee, national para-sports festival

• Lithuanian Paralympic Committee, Baltic Summer Youth Games

• The Netherlands Paralympic Committee, developing para-sport in the Caribbean

• Romanian Paralympic Committee, wheelchair curling development

• Rwanda Paralympic Committee, athlete pathway development towards Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020

• Slovenian Paralympic Committee, development and education of para-athletes

• Mongolian Paralympic Committee, National Paralympic Day

• Nicaraguan Paralympic Committee, para-sport circuit in Central America

• New Zealand Paralympic Committee, snow sports talent identification programme for women and young people in New Zealand

• Oceania Paralympic Committee, talent identification, classification and grassroots competition

• Serbian Paralympic Committee, developing alpine skiing in south east Europe

IFs and IOSDs

• IPC Athletics, classification education video

• Boccia International Sports Federation, online boccia education tools

• Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association, improving reliability and validity of current classification methods for athletes in FT5-FT8 and T35-T38 classifications

• International Blind Sports Federation, expert consensus statement regarding visually impaired classification research

• IPC Powerlifting, introduction to para-powerlifting for coaches seminars

• International Rowing Federation, para-rowing development training camp and regatta

• International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability, furthering sports

• International Tennis Federation, Development of wheelchair tennis in the Caribbean

• Inas: Classification for athletes with intellectual impairment (second stage)

• International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, referee instructor project

• International Wheelchair Rugby Federation, developing a low-cost wheelchair rugby chair

Of the EUR 650,000 that was set aside for the 2014 edition, 200,000 has been pledged to IFs and IOSDs and 450,000 to NPCs and ROs.

Information about the Agitos Foundation, including updates and stories on current Grant Support Programme activities, can be found at the Agitos Foundation website.