The National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) and the Zambian Institute of Sport (ZIS) signed a memorandum of understanding this afternoon at the NOCZ Secretariat at OlympAfrica Centre in Lusaka to collaborate on capacity building programs aimed at professionalizing sports training in the country. The partnership will focus on upskilling trainers, coaches, administrators, and others involved in identifying, developing, and grooming athletes.
ZIS General Manager Lube Samson Mukando expressed excitement about the agreement, stating, "Through this MOU, we will now be able to have legitimate access to affiliate associations of NOCZ because our mandate is to professionalize sports training."
Mukando revealed that ZIS has already initiated several programs, including an emergency sports first aid program, and a symposium was hosted in January that introduced a professional sports coaching program, which is currently running. Later this year, they plan to launch two additional courses: Sports Management and Leadership for administrators, and Fitness and Exercise for gym instructors and managers.
Boniface Kambikambi, the Chief Executive Officer of NOCZ, highlighted the alignment between the partnership and their strategic plan.
"One of our strategic objectives is to help build capacity in administrators as well as coaches, and we're doing that through some programs from Olympic Solidarity," he said.
Kambikambi emphasized the importance of long-term, high-level professional qualifications that administrators and coaches can utilize anywhere. "We believe that now we should be able to use ZIS as a partner to offer long-term programs that give an administrator or a coach a high-level professional qualification, which they can use anywhere else," he explained.
In addition to the long-term programs, Kambikambi expressed interest in collaborating with ZIS on shorter programs, such as emergency first aid, which NOCZ has not offered.
"We would like to add that to our program so that perhaps it becomes a compliance issue as well for our members to undergo that program," he said.
Both organizations recognize the need for administrators and coaches to have a sports educational background that supports the professional handling of association matters. The partnership aims to drive this agenda, with the goal of ultimately enhancing the performance of athletes.
"That's the only way I think we will then enhance the performance of athletes because enhancing the performance of administrators means that you enhance the performance of coaches when you enhance coaches, it means that you have better athletes," Kambikambi explained.
While acknowledging that the impact of the partnership may not be immediate, both parties are committed to the long-term journey. "It's not going to be overnight, so everybody must be ready to wait for maybe 4 to 8 years for them to see the results of what we are signing here today," Kambikambi cautioned.
The partnership agreement will be reviewed annually, allowing for adjustments and strategic actions to be implemented. After three years, the organizations will assess the achievement of their goals and decide on the continuity of the collaboration.
With this partnership, NOCZ and ZIS aim to elevate the professionalism of sports training in Zambia, ultimately paving the way for better-performing athletes through a systematic approach to capacity building.
Great News
Great News