Development
Development
IODA has doubled the number of member national associations over the last twelve years and is committed to bringing the benefits of sailing to young people worldwide. It offers limited financial aid to "newer" countries in three areas.
the "6 for 5" scheme
Countries seeking to start or enlarge Optimist fleets can apply for one free boat for every five bought.
- The boats may be bought from any approved builder.
- They must be owned by an association, club or other "not-for-profit" organisation, and;
- They must be available to introduce the children of non-sailors to the sport.
Consideration may also be given to supplying sails and rigs for locally-built wood/epoxy Optimists.
More than 260 Optimists have been sponsored under this scheme in the last six years. Countries which have benefited so far are:
| Africa: Angola Kenya Libya Mauritius Seychelles Tunisia Uganda Tanzania | Caribbean: Bahamas Barbados, Dominican Republic Netherlands Antilles St. Kitts St. Lucia St. Vincent Trinidad | Central America El Salvador Guatemala Nicaragua ---- Europe Bulgaria Faroe I. (DEN) Macedonia Serbia | Oceania Cook Islands Fiji Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Vanuatu | Asia Sri Lanka |
IODA has an ongoing programme of courses to train "basic-level" coaches. These are intended for newer Optimist sailing countries and regions which do not have an established national coaching programme.
An experienced Optimist trainer is sent to conduct a course of max. ten days duration. Ideally ten coaches attend, together with not more than 20 under-13 sailors.
Travel costs and fees are paid by IODA, up to US$2,500 per course.
- Applications are accepted only from national Optimist associations or sailing federations which are members of IODA, and all applications should be made through them. A list of these members is at members.php
- Preference is given to courses for coaches from more than one country
- Courses may be in any language spoken by a group of countries.
- September through March are the preferred months
To date sixteen such courses have been held, involving 26 countries.
The latest course was held in August 2008 in St Kitts.
Past courses had been held in Algeria, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Israel, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Tahiti, Tunisia, Turkey, Trinidad and Zimbabwe.
To encourage participation in regional regattas IODA offers free entry and/or travel for certain countries to send sailors to continental and regional regattas.
Those benefitting in recent years included Cook I, Cuba, Georgia, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Macedonia FYR, Mauritius, Montenegro, Netherlands Antilles, Papua New Guinea, St. Vincent, Samoa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
APPLICATIONS FOR 2009 ARE INVITED
Just write to the IODA Secretariat and tell us what YOU need to help to develop Optimist sailing in YOUR country.
Countries which already have a Member National Optimist Association should apply through that association.
LATEST NEWS ABOUT IODA DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
- DEVELOPMENT
- Topic:
- Mar 2, 2010
- Date of Publication:
2010 DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Coach Training Course begins in Sudan
IODA grant programme continues: Coach Training Course begins in Sudan
Following the arrival in December of the 12 Optimists bought by the Sudan Sailing Federation, with subsidies from the IODA and Optimist builder Far East Shanghai, there has been keen interest in developing optimist sailing further. This week, the Sudan Sailing Federation and the Blue Nile Sailing Club are hosting a Coaches Course, delivered by coach Mohamed Bouchema (Algeria), who has served as trainer to both the Algerian and Kuwaiti national squads.
This course, made possible by an IODA grant, is being delivered in the Arabic language and will train ‘basic level’ coaches to enable more young sailors to enjoy the sport of sailing.
Many countries who do not have an established national coaching programme have applied for and received this IODA grant. Some of the beneficiaries of this programme now have large optimist fleets and are participating at IODA Continental and World Championships.
| IODA Development |