The SIGGS Final Conference held in the Belgian capital city officially closed the Project “Support the Implementation of Good Governance in Sport” with the presentation of the final version of SIGGS self-evaluation tool.

The SIGGS Project was created with the aim to provide specific, tailor-made and practical advice to NOCs and national sport federations on the implementation of good governance.
The Final Conference was the occasion to present the final outcomes and achievements of this project, which started in January 2015 under the management of the European Olympic Committees EU Office (EOC EU Office).
Around 80 participants attended the Conference, among them representatives of various European or international federations as well as representatives of 17 different European NOCs. Participants were presented the results of the self-evaluation that was run in the seven countries of the SIGGS Project. Over 200 federations and NOCs have taken part in this evaluation.
Janez Kocijancic, acting EOC President, provided the conference conclusions and officially opened the tool for NOCs and national federations in the 50 European countries. He invited all sport organisations to make use of this tool to strengthen the governance of sport in Europe.
Pierre-Olivier Beckers, IOC Member and President of the Belgian NOC, addressed the Final Conference of the SIGGS Project : “Good governance is about better return, better performance; it is not just about compliance, which is not the goal but the mean to become more credible and receive better support!” He added: “it is urgent to restore the trust of all stakeholders and the public opinion in general. Without trust and credibility, without the necessary transparency, without restoring the positive image of sport, Our very survival is at stake”
A panel discussion – which included several NOCs and European Federations representatives as well as Jean-Michel Saive, Chair of the EOC Athletes’ Commission – was organised to further discuss how good governance could be further implemented and what is the role of umbrella organisations in this process.
The Final Conference is not the end of the SIGGS Project. the EOC EU Brussels Office will ensure that the SIGGS Project will continue its implementation of activities, through additional Strategic Workshops and by providing support to NOCs and federations, in 2017 and beyond.
It represents the end of the pilot phase of the tool, but equally opens the next chapter of implementation as the tool is now open and available for use by all NOCs and national sport federations across Europe. The tool can be accessed via the following website: siggs.novagov.com.
European Olympic Committees are committed to continue the development of the SIGGS tool and the SIGGS activities that have been started during the project lifetime and to contribute to the development of sport in Europe.