WBSC announces results of Continental Association Governance Review

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is pleased to announce that all Continental Associations continue to make improvements as part of a Governance Review.

Establishing a culture of good governance across the entire WBSC family is a key element of the WBSC Strategic Plan 2022-2028 with the results of the Governance Review having an influence on the allocation of the WBSC Development Fund.

Inspired by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Review of IF Governance, the WBSC followed the same procedure and methodology in its own review of WBSC Continental Associations.

All Continental Associations had introductory calls, one-on-one meetings, completed a self-assessment questionnaire, were moderated and will have follow up meetings with the WBSC Integrity Unit following feedback and recommendations.

After an initial review was held in 2020/2021, including a test round aimed at measuring the governance level of each of the Continental Associations, the WBSC began the second round in November 2022. The results have demonstrated a marked improvement across all key areas of good governance.

The self-assessment questionnaire was made up of five sections: transparency, integrity, democracy, development and solidarity, and control mechanisms. Each section has five indicators with a highest possible score of four and a lowest of one for each, meaning the highest achievable score overall is 100.

Through the process of regular reviews and subsequent recommendations, the WBSC is aiming for each Continental Association to reach a target score of at least 60 by 2024 following the significant process that has been made over the past two years.

The average score per indicator has risen from 1.07 to 1.84, with the transparency section having the highest mean score per indicator of 2.43.

There was outstanding improvement in the democracy section that resulted in a mean score of 2.34, while integrity also saw considerable improvement.

A new WBSC Development System will also start in 2023 to help Continental Associations improve in areas such as development and solidarity.  Each Continental Association will have two representatives on the WBSC Development Commission to help manage the development funds of their regions with a more professional, transparent and harmonised approach.

The WBSC plans to conduct this review on an annual basis with the next round to come at the end of 2023. The Integrity Unit will hold meetings with each Continental Association, as well as discussing internal education opportunities. Meanwhile, a National Federation Governance Review will be launched between 2024 and 2025.