Home Sports ‘The right choice!’- CANOC President enthused Guyana hosting annual workshop, general assembly

‘The right choice!’- CANOC President enthused Guyana hosting annual workshop, general assembly

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Executive members of CANOC and the GOA, along with representatives of GOA affiliates share a moment at the press conference (Photo: News Room/Avenash Ramzan/February 1, 2025)

By Avenash Ramzan

avenash@newsroom.gy

“We’re comfortable at the end of this visit that we’ve made the right choice in agreeing that you should host our annual workshop and general assembly.”

Those were the sentiments of Keith Joseph, President of the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC), during a press conference on Saturday to update the media on gains made during CANOC’s annual retreat, currently being hosted in Guyana.

Speaking at the media engagement at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) headquarters at Liliendaal, Joseph highlighted Guyana’s successful bid to host the important fora on October 18-19, 2025, at the Pegasus Hotel and Suites in Georgetown.

The annual workshop and general assembly will be a major gathering of Caribbean Olympic officials, drawn from the 29 affiliate countries of CANOC.

“We look forward to coming back in October,” an optimistic Joseph declared.

“And we also look forward to ensuring that Guyana and the Olympic movement has an important role to play in the development of the broader Caribbean Olympic movement and the broader Caribbean sport movement and its impact on regional development.”

CANOC comprises National Olympic Committees, Commonwealth Games Associations and governing bodies of National Sport Organisations and works to promote, develop and protect sport as well as the Olympic movement in the Caribbean.

CANOC President Keith Joseph (left) speaks at the press conference in the presence of GOA head Godfrey Munroe (Photo: News Room/Avenash Ramzan/February 1, 2025)

Interface with key stakeholders

The annual retreat allowed the Executive Committee of CANOC to interface with the GOA and its affiliates, meet with senior government functionaries and assess Guyana’s hosting capabilities for the Caribbean Games and other major regional sport events.

Joseph posited that the retreat afforded CANOC the opportunity “to complete our work, which involved the establishment of our strategic plan, which allowed us to look at Memorandum of Understanding that we’ve had with organisations across the Americas.”

He added, “We also looked at the future of the Caribbean Games as our premier product going forward. It also allowed us to be able to talk about programmes that we have put in place in collaboration with the International Sports for All Movement, as well as the programme WISH (Women In Sport High-Performance Pathway), which allows us to place emphasis on taking female coaches to the elite level.”

The retreat, Joseph further highlighted, provided an avenue to examine CANOC’s relationship with the University of the West Indies and other universities across the Americas.

“…because we always do need a strong research base for the collection of appropriate data to inform our decision-making processes going forward,” the CANOC boss explained.

President Irfaan Ali and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr. with executive members of CANOC and the GOA (Photo: Office of the President)

Critically, Joseph, and by extension CANOC, was elated by the positive engagement with President Irfaan Ali and representatives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

It is the belief of CANOC that through sport national development, and more broadly Caribbean development, can be facilitated.

“Our interest is sport for development and we’re enthused at the fact that the President of Guyana committed to his engagement of sport people (and) sport organisations as a critical mechanism for the development of Guyanese society, and ultimately for the development of Caribbean society.”

“So we’re happy that at that level of governance you have the support of the leader of the government, and we’re enthused by commitment to work with us and to allow us to work with him to broaden our engagement at the level of the Caribbean Community.”

President of the GOA Godfrey Munroe (right) makes a point, in the company of CANOC head Keith Joseph (Photo: News Room/Avenash Ramzan/February 1, 2025)

Strategic Plans coincide

President of the GOA Godfrey Munroe, who also offered remarks at Saturday’s press briefing, underscored the significance of the retreat being hosted in Guyana and expressed gratitude to CANOC for making it a reality.

Munroe said the collaboration is timely as both CANOC and the GOA are currently charting their respective strategic plans.

The executive committee of the GOA, as part of its strategic undertaking on charting a new course, has embarked on developing a critical Strategic and Operational plan for the period 2024 to 2032.

“…and I think as an umbrella organisation, CANOC now gets to see where the GOA lies and how they can best support that and I’m sure this will extend to the other countries that CANOC oversees,” Munroe reckoned.

“We were able to share and exchange a lot of ideas as it relates to impact, where the gaps are, the synergies, the opportunities, our strengths, our weaknesses and more critically have some key engagements with key partners and this includes President Ali in a meeting that was quite beneficial to both movements.”

Executive members of CANOC and the GOA (Photo: News Room/Avenash Ramzan/February 1, 2025)

CANOC Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan (2025-2028) is a milestone document that will define the organisation’s direction and priorities for the coming years.

Key agenda items include:

  • Strategic Plan 2025-2028:Establishing a comprehensive roadmap for CANOC’s development and impact across the region.
  • Partnerships and High-Performance Development: Strengthening agreements with the Olympic Committee of Peru and revising CANOC’s Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the West Indies (UWI) to incorporate collaboration with the Government of Grenada on a High-Performance Centre for sports in the OECS and beyond.
  • Advanced Sports Leadership Course:Reviewing progress on this initiative, jointly developed by Panam Sports, UWI, and CANOC, which aims to enhance sports administration across the Caribbean.
  • Guyana’s Role in Caribbean Sports:Exploring Guyana’s potential to host the Caribbean Games and other major regional sporting events, as well as its commitment to developing coaching camps and training opportunities for athletes and officials.
  • CANOC Sustainability Action Plan (2025-2030):Leveraging Guyana’s leadership in climate action to advance sustainability efforts in regional sports development.
  • Future Financing and Marketing Strategies:Examining innovative approaches to strengthen CANOC’s financial stability and global presence.
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