Sports Development Programme 2020 (SDP 2020 )

26 November 2018
Sports Development Programme 2020 (SDP 2020 )

Sports Development Programme 2020 (SDP 2020 ) - medium-term strategy document setting out the intervention objectives, priorities and directions of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland.

1. SDP 2020 of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland

Source : https://www.msit.gov.pl/en/news/7351,Sport-Development-Programme-2020.html

“This document adopts a new approach to sport which is understood as an important area of public policy. Therefore, the SDP 2020 presents sport in the context of other policies, in particular towards health, education, transport, tourism, spatial development, as well as the labour market and social policy, with particular emphasis on sport’s potential for building social capital. “

The Sport Development Programme 2020 (hereinafter: the SDP 2020) is the first strategic document related to sport and compliant with the requirements of the new system of strategic management laid down in the Act on the principles of development policy1. The SDP 2020 is a medium-term strategy document setting out the intervention objectives, priorities and directions. The document will replace the Strategy of sport development in Poland until 2015. Its evaluation conclusions have been used in the process of drawing up the SDP 2020.

In accordance with the adopted system of strategic documents in Poland, the implementation of the medium-term National Development Strategy 2020 is supported by sectoral documents: nine so- called integrated strategies. The integrated strategies are accompanied by more specific sectoral documents - development programmes.

The highest-level strategic documents contain provisions relating directly to the area of sport which is understood as a tool to be used in the context of building human and social capital. The applicable strategic documents, as well as EU horizontal guidelines, refer to increasing the level of physical activity of the society, understood as an important factor determining man’s proper psychological and physical development. The key assumptions of the said documents point inter alia to:

- the need to increase physical activity of the society; 

- the health-improving and pro-societal dimension of physical activity; 

- the need to develop the habit of physical activity among children and youth; 

- the role of sport in the process of social inclusion and building social capital; 

- the need to improve the availability of sports infrastructure; 

- the development of social competencies through sport-related activity (also of organizational nature).

The thematic area of sport and physical activity is most broadly reflected in two integrated strategies: the Human Capital Development Strategy 2020 (hereinafter: HCDS) and the Social Capital Development Strategy 2020.

When planning the SDP 2020 intervention scheme directions, the objective was to ensure the document’s maximum compatibility with the applicable national strategic documents, the EU guidelines relating to sport and physical activity, and the Partnership Agreement regulating the scope of support from EU funds in the 2014-2020 financial perspective. As a result of this approach, account has been taken of the multidimensional nature of sport and physical activity. The document provides for measures whose implementation will require cooperation with entities external to the minister responsible for physical culture. The proposed measures are also based on the conclusions of a diagnosis carried out based on representative, regular and largely internationally comparable statistical surveys.

This document adopts a new approach to sport which is understood as an important area of public policy. Therefore, the SDP 2020 presents sport in the context of other policies, in particular towards health, education, transport, tourism, spatial development, as well as the labour market and social policy, with particular emphasis on sport’s potential for building social capital. Strong emphasis is also placed on the introduction to sport of the strategic management principles applied in other public policy areas. Given the multidimensionality of issues tackled in the SDP 2020, the effective mplementation of the document requires integrated intersectoral action and cooperation between the national government, regional and local governments, as well as non-governmental organizations.

 

2. The Polish elite sport system and DCA ( dual careers of athletes)

source : Andreas Küttel | MSc; PhD | University of Southern Denmark ...

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Transition out of Elite Sport - An investigation across the Swiss, Danish, and Polish elite sports contexts Thesis Full-text available

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andreas_Kuettel

The Polish elite sports system is highly centralized, bureaucratic and intensely formalized. Accordingly, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism (MSiT) is the dominant state agency that supports (and controls) the sports federations. As a relic from the former communist era, athletes find sport-specific educational opportunities both in secondary as well as in higher education. According to Aquilina and Henry’s (2010) typology, the Polish dual career approach could be termed ‘state-centered’. Furthermore, the Polish army supports a substantial amount of athletes by offering paid positions. There are no institutionalized programs available that help athletes with the transition out of elite sport or the adaptation to the post-sport life. However, Polish Olympic medalists receive a life-long pension from the state. Concerning the macro-dimensions, Poland is located in Eastern Europe and is larger than the other two countries under comparison, both in size of population and area. As a post-communist country, Poland has adopted a form of conservative welfare regime (Fenger, 2007). Polish society tends to be individualistic and strong power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, and a relatively high level of masculinity characterize Polish culture. Poland is an emerging country in terms of economic success, although wage levels are still below the European average.

Talented Polish athletes are gathered in specialized sports schools;

Polish athletes get sport specific grants from the MSiT via their sports federation….

Furthermore, CAPs could profit from a more systematic evaluation of the changing needs of high-performance athletes as they move out of sport and into another career. As Sinclair and Hackfort (2000) proposed, a needs-assessment is an organized and objective way of measuring athletes’ opinions, attitudes, and behaviors relative to the transitional program. Such an assessment would focus on what athletes need and how they feel about these services, rather than on what they want. Hence, program evaluation is critical in determining which services are working well, why they are working well, and what can be done to improve the existing program. Since evaluation as a one-time effort is nonproductive (Sinclair & Hackfort, 2000), periodical evaluation of programs through database monitoring would permit drawing better conclusions about the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing CAPs.