Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) has provided a cumulative cash injection of P2.5 million to eight national sports associations.
The first quartet is Botswana Rugby Union, Botswana Judo Federation, Botswana Tennis Association and Botswana Squash Rackets Association who were cumulatively assisted with an amount of P1.5 million.
The other four NSAs are Botswana Netball Association, Botswana Athletics Association, Botswana Softball Association and Botswana Volleyball Federation who got a collective amount of P2.5 million.
Botswana Football League is also one of the beneficiaries as BNSC has availed its facilities free of charge.
Speaking to Voice Sport, BNSC Chief Executive Officer Tuelo Serufho said the funds are meant for the associations to implement their development programmes.
“The first four associations, were assisted because they have their own offices which they run independently. But for those in the tier one category, we have made it clear at the start of this financial year that most of our funding would be going to them. We want them to develop capacity in order to attract the private sector to come on board, finance them and run independently,” Serufho said.
The CEO further sent a plea to the corporate sector to lend a helping hand to the sports fraternity especially during a busy calendar year like this one where there are major events such as Commonwealth Games and World Athletics Championships.
This financial year BNSC introduced a new funding model which is mostly based on the impact that federations have in terms of bringing good results from international competitions and contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
NSAs have been classified according to high impact, middle high impact, middle impact and low impact with athletics, football, netball, Softball and volleyball belonging to the top tier 1 group.
