Overwhelming interest for Chef de mission post
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday January 28, 2023 06:00
The country is preparing to send a team to the 2nd African Beach Games in June, the second ANOC World Beach Games in August, the 7th Commonwealth Youth Games (August) and 4th Africa Youth Games in April.
Therefore, the Chef de Mission will be responsible for leading Team Botswana participation at the specific games. “The Chef de Mission will create and deliver a high performance environment at the Games that will both inspire athletes and enable them to excel.
The appointee should understand the complexities of pinnacle multi-sport games and the needs of Botswana athletes,” the advert reads in part. BNOC strategy and business development manager, Baboni Kupe said traditionally the board appointed the Chef de Mission from amongst individuals who form part of the membership of the National Federations (NFs) or members of the BNOC board. “As BNOC continued to build capacity, increasing skills and competencies of sport personnel in the country as well as institutes of higher learning offering sport related programmes, the talent pool increased,” she explained.
Kupe said to maintain a concerted effort towards continuous improvement in good governance, transparency and along international best practice, the BNOC has chosen to adopt a new approach.
The approach decided upon was to allow candidates from across the memberships and BNOC structures to apply for consideration, she said. Kupe added this further fulfills BNOC strategic ambitions of being a world-class leader in sport. She revealed that the response to the advertisement has been overwhelming. “The high number of enquiries from the public regarding the position is an indication of high interest,” she added.
Although Kupe said this is a voluntary position that does not attract a salary, there are allowances for travel to the games or preparatory events. She said there is also a once off responsibility allowance, which is given for travel to the games.
Some of the requirements for the position include an understanding of sport in Botswana, an understanding of high-performance sport and multi sport games. The candidate should have a traceable track record of leadership experience in high-performance sport and sport development, experience of leading and managing sport teams or groups at international level. For youth games, the appointed candidate must not be above the age of 40.