The project application on ‘Single Points of Contact for Sports Integrity’ (POINTS) by the EOC EU Office has been selected by the European Commission for co-funding out of the Erasmus+ Sports Programme. The application had been prepared earlier this year and had been handed in for the deadline of beginning of April 2017.
The main objective of the POINTS Project is to help National Olympic Committees (NOCs), European federations and national sport federations in Europe to safeguard the integrity of their respective sport(s) and to strengthen their governance. One of the innovative elements of the projects is that it focuses on integrity in the wider sense of the word encompassing and combining integrity issues such as anti-corruption, personal integrity, integrity of sports competitions (including the prevention of the manipulation of sports competitions) and good governance.
The methodology is based on the idea to set-up ‘Single Points of Contact for integrity’. This concept has already been developed in certain countries and sports, in particular in the prevention of the manipulation of sports competitions. Therefore, the POINTS Project aims to take stock of the current situation and to further develop this concept for NOCs as well as European and national federations and to broaden it to integrity in general. One particular objective is for instance to develop an educational programme to provide training and support for Single Points of Contact. In terms of good governance, the POINTS Project will also build on the achievements of the SIGGS Project of the EOC EU Office.
To implement this ambitious project, the POINTS Project can build on an impressive consortium of 18 organisations including 11 NOCs (Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, France, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Croatia), 3 European federations (European Athletics, European Volleyball Confederation and FIBA Europe) and 3 specialised organisations (INTERPOL, Sport & Recreation Alliance UK and EOSE). The IOC, through its Ethics and Compliance Office, is an associated partner to the project.
With the announcement of the selection results as early as mid-July, there is considerable time to prepare the launch of the project in January 2018. The project will run for a total of three years with various activities scheduled in the various countries of the consortium.
The EOC EU Office is extremely pleased that the application has been selected and looks forward to start the implementation. Further information on the project launch (e.g. launch of website and planning of Kick-off Meeting) will be communicated in due time.