Sports devt policy to be launched

After the cabinet approved the Sports development policy early this year, the Ministry of Sports and Culture is set to officially launch the plan whose vision is to achieve sports excellence at the individual, community and national level.The Minister of Sports and Culture, Protais Mitali, told Times Sport recently that the policy will be launched this month at a retreat that will attract all sporting federations in the country.“The policy was prepared after holding an analysis of our sports sector, and reviewed the sports draft policy that was in place before cabinet approved it. We are going to launch it soon and see how it can be implemented in a bid to achieve the identified set goals,” said Mitali.The primary objective of the policy is to pursue excellence. It seeks to put in place systems to encourage and foster the identification, and development of young talents and promotion of sports for all. The Ministry of Sports will also endeavor to remove all the barriers to full participation of girls and women and those with physical and/or intellectual impairment.The ministry’s target is that by 2020, Rwanda should have a higher percentage of the population involved with sport than in any other African nation as well as ranked in the top 10 in Africa in football; and among top 3 in basketball, volleyball, cycling, athletics and paralympics sports. The policy will also foster increased participation of people in traditional sports.The stakeholders who will be involved in the implementation of the national sports policy include; Ministry of Sports and Culture, Ministry of Local Government and its entities, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence and Rwanda Defense Force, Ministry of Health, Rwanda National Police, Rwanda National Olympic Committee, National Sports Bodies, the Private Sector, and Civil Society organizations.The Ministry of Sports and Culture will take the lead in coordinating monitoring and evaluation.The policy will cost an estimated budget of around Rwf10 billion per annum in sports activities and infrastructure.