NFA shares draft strategic plan

Namibia Football Association (NFA) is working towards rehabilitating its tattered image, commercialising its products, and upscaling administration skills and grassroots development.

These were the takeaways from yesterday’s stakeholders’ engagement at NFA Football House, where the federation shared a six-point draft “contract of agreed objectives” and tentative strategic framework derived from consultation with Fifa last month.

The NFA said its plans for 2024 to 2027 are aligned to the expected US$3 million funding from Fifa across the next three years.

Namibia was unable to access Fifa funding for projects recently due to not having a substantive leadership in place.

These objectives include the construction and completion of the national technical centre, upgrading the NFA headquarters to a modern facility, conducting a capacity-building course for football personnel, building a network of commercial partners, setting up and funding a school football development project, and launching a similar initiative for women’s football.

“This document was drafted after a brief with Fifa. The secretariat provided Fifa with the manifesto of the president [Robert Shimooshili], the women’s football strategic plan, and so many other documents. We also made use of the media coverage during the time we were in abnormality,” said NFA executive council member Michael Situde.

“So, these are the six items we agreed upon in cognisance with what we are going to receive in this period from Fifa. The funding we’re going to receive will not cover everything.

“But what specifically do we want to prioritise during that period?”

In early January, a Fifa delegation conducted an executive induction programme for the newly elected NFA executive council, presenting strategic development and financial governance sessions over three days.

The Fifa team consisted of consultant Stewart Regan, Fifa development officer David Fani, Fifa regional office project coordinator Christine Gama, and Meryem Atouk, Fifa’s economic governance programme head.

They worked with the NFA executive council on strategic initiatives, such as financial governance, the segregation of powers, and the importance of effective communication – especially with the NFA’s stakeholders.