SVGFF hosts capacity building workshop on governance

Expect first class delivery on many governance matters relative to the administration of Football here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

This after the executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF), along with some staff members critical to the administration, were taken through the rudiments of governance, via a two- day workshop at the La Vue Hotel, on Saturday, August 17 and Sunday, August 18, 2024.

Convened at the demand of Federation President, Otashie Spring, the workshop was held under Concacaf’s Executive Mentorship Programme, and facilitated by David Sabir, the Bermuda Football Association’s General Secretary; and Howard Mc Intosh, head of One Concacaf.

Among some of the topics covered over the two days were ‘Understanding Leadership principles’, ‘Concacaf’s good governance and best practices principles’, ‘Understanding the Game and Leadership’, ‘Time Management’, and ‘Understanding Roles and Function and Execute’.

Emerging from the two days of discussions and instructions, Mc Intosh called on the participants to take as a mantra that: “Leadership is about service, and not power”.

Mc Intosh thus lauded Spring for his tenacity is having the workshop come to fruition.

“I want to thank the president (Otashie Spring) for following up, diligence, requesting, requiring ,and demanding of this workshop… It was his insistence that this happened”, Mc Intosh stated, as the workshop wound up on Sunday.

Likewise, Sabir told the attendees, “This is an opportunity for you to position St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Football in a space where it should be, where it needs to be, where it must be…I encourage you to bring your best self, because Football deserves the best people”.

Spring in turn, underscored that the training is a push “to ensure that our governance team is adequately equipped for the task”.

He noted that from the workshop they are in a better space to deliver administratively.

“ I believe that once we are strong in capacity area then we would be in a better position being the driver, [to] drive properly and being able to navigate the contours and potholes as we look to get to our destination…I believe the material that was presented was highly informative and I trust and hope that we as recipients…would embrace it as we strive to be the best deliverers of the services we have to issue and be in the best position to serve those we have to serve. “

Meanwhile, one of the committee members of the Federation said that she gleaned a lot over the two days of exposure to governance.

“You made the literature very easy, and I appreciate the fact that you used real life personal experiences to drive some of the points home,” London said of the delivery.

“ From these two days, I have a lot of information that I personally have the commitment to use to the advantage of the Council.”

With the renewed vigour, another such engagement is planned for January, 2025, as the SVGFF executive endeavours to continuously retool and build capacity.

The Federation’s current executive is just over five months into its four year tenure, having been elected on March 21, this year.