Development Commission was active in 2020 despite COVID-19

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, February 6, 2021 – The FIVB Development Commission was one very active in FIVB despite the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the whole world for most of 2020.

Mr. Mushtaque Mohammed, president of the commission and vice president of NORCECA, explained in his complete report to the FIVB virtual congress that 131 of 142 development projects submitted by national federation were approved last year.

Africa led the way with 43 projects submitted, followed by Asia with 39, Europe with 27, NORCECA with 24 and South America with 9.

Of those projects, a total of 65 were for volleyball equipment, 60 were for coaching development of national teams and 6 for the train the trainers program.

Mushtaque of Trinidad and Tobago, underlined that over the last Olympic cycle, 407 projects were approved by FIVB with an investment of almost US$7 million.

He also informed that since 2019, the commission has started the evaluation process of the projects in order to ensure that “every dollar spent in these projects bring a return on our investment.”

He predicted that as a consequence of the development project new beach volleyball teams will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and in the next four years new champions will emerge in regional, continental and international tournaments in both volleyball and beach volleyball.

Mushtaque thanked the president of FIVB and the Development Department for the cooperation they have received since he was elected to preside the Development Commission.