EuroHockey has secured significant European Union funding for a new Solidarity through Great Governance (SGG) project.
The project is a two-year pilot programme for developing organisational strategies of member national associations linked to their national Olympic committee and ministry of sport strategic objectives.
Solidarity through Great Governance will be led by EuroHockey in tandem with academic partner Technical University of Munich and expert partners from Oaks Consultancy (Business Expert), the Dutch Hockey Federation (Hockey Expert), the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee (Government Expert) and Sport Social Solutions (Sustainable Expert).
It will be coordinated in conjunction with the member national associations from Ukraine, Türkiye, Portugal, Croatia, Finland and Bulgaria.
In phase one, from January to June 2024, EuroHockey and Oaks Consultancy will visit national associations to review their strategic aims with EuroHockey and then link this to ministry of sport and national Olympic committee objectives. A strategic plan will subsequently be published.
Phase two runs from July 2024 to June 2025 and will review how member national associations are implementing their strategy. From this, an operational evidence criteria plan will be published.
The final phase – from July to December 2025 – will see EuroHockey visit member national associations to review their strategy with support from Technical University of Munich with the focus on a final review and assessment report’s publication.
“The SGG project will have a fundamental role to play in shaping, inspiring and bringing a new strategic solidarity to the European hockey family of five million people engaged in the game,” said EuroHockey’s Head of National Associations Tom Pedersen-Smith, who will lead the project.
EuroHockey President Marcos Hofmann added: “SGG will create more fluid European strategic models for growth as it prioritises the inclusion and diversity of all established, developing, and emerging nations that are members of EuroHockey.”
And EuroHockey vice-chair of the development committee, Cathelijne Rockall, also sees the huge impact this project can have: “SGG will enable national associations across different cultures, geography, fiscal strengths and resource capacity to access strategic expertise for their own opportunity to increase solidarity and strategic intent, making hockey more efficient by sharing knowledge with each other and offering joint challenges and developing shared solutions.”
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