Football Association of Malawi has in the past week trained 168 football administrators at district level as one way of strengthening operational deliverables in transforming the game in Malawi.
The trainings were held in the three regions and drew participants from 29 District Football Committees, 22 Districts Youth Football Committee and five Districts Zonal Beach Soccer Committees across the country. Each committee was represented by its Chairperson, general secretary and Treasurer.
The first workshop was held at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe for Central Region on Thursday June 13, followed by the Northern Region edition on Sunday June 16 at the Chatonda Lodge in Mzuzu. The Southern Region workshop was held on Thursday June 20 at the Mpira Village in Blantyre.
FAM President Fleetwood Haiya, who presided over the opening and closing ceremonies of the Cente and South workshops respectively, said capacity building in football management at lower level is crucial for achieving effective results in his transforming the game agenda.
“When we talk about transforming the game, it has to be a bottom-up approach and not top down. This is why we have begun with zones and districts, progressing to regions and then to the national level. By districts, I mean inclusive of beach soccer, youth football, and football associations.
“For a long time, we have elected leaders for this committees, but we have not oriented them or given them any training on what is expected of them. But now we need well capacitated administrators at district level who should be talking the same language of our bigger picture at the top level. If the districts understands the agenda, it will be easy to implement it across board,” he said.
One of the participants, Dedza District Youth Football General Secretary Crink Mahilas, expressed his anticipation for positive changes in organizing games, writing proposals, budgeting and reporting.
The administrators were engaged in the latest trends, topics, and direction that Malawi football is taking. The participants were able to discuss various subjects such as Competition Management, Match Organisation, marketing and sponsorship, Leadership and Finance.
The workshop was delivered by FAM Management staff that included Competitions Director Gomezgani Zakazaka, mMarketing and Broadcast Manager Tulipo Mwenelupembe, Management Accountant Sebastian Chinkhandwe and consultant Christipher Njeula.
This programme falls within the scope of building capacity at member association level to drive the development of Malawi football and help FAM to implement its Transforming the game strategy.
