FIFA pleased with School’s project progress

Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA)’s Design Consultant, Dr Ian McClements was in Namibia recently to assess progress made on the development and rehabilitation of sports fields in the Khomas and Ohangwena Regions which were commissioned in February this year.
Dr McClements’ who works for Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI), a company that deals with construction and development of sports facilities has been doing field inspection for 26 years and has visited 15 venues in the northern part of Namibia, where stadium construction was either underway or completed. He has as well visited Concordia College in Windhoek, which at the moment is the only school part of the project in the Khomas region.
He says the construction and development of sports facilities ranges from world class stadiums, the highest level, such as the stadium in Russia with which he’s currently busy with in preparation for 2018 world cup, to grass roots level.
“We’ve had good engagement with various stakeholders during my visit so we are very happy with the progress that is being made”, states Dr McClements, who designed stadiums for five African countries, namely Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Morocco, and Tanzania, with Namibia being the sixth, and was also involved in the development of pitches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The German Football Association (DFB), the Namibia Football Association (NFA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (a global service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) worked, alongside FIFA.
The far-reaching project will seek to enrich the lives of a vast number of Namibian children by benefitting 23 schools and one Vocational Training Centre in the country, while also aiding the NFA with the expansion of youth football at grassroots level by introducing football and other sporting competitions in schools.
FIFA and the NFA will renovate existing football pitches at selected schools and institutions working with young people, with FIFA and the DFB helping to provide football equipment and educate instructors for coaching, refereeing and league management. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development will build 44 new sport fields for football, basketball, volleyball and netball at the selected schools.
The overarching objective is to provide better access to education on HIV/ AIDS through football, sporting facilities and equipment, as well as increasing the sporting capacity of the schools involved and widening the participation of school children in football, with the introduction of the school football competitions and improved levels of coaching.