National Federations submitted a total of 90 different projects to the WBSC Development Commission throughout the period of 2018-2019 of which 75 (83%) were accepted and funded, and only four rejected, while 11 projects are still going through the approval process.
The majority of the requests (39) came from European National Federations, while 20 came from Africa, 12 from Asia, 10 from the Americas and nine from Oceania.
Chairman, and WBSC Treasurer, Angelo Vicini, presented the figures of the activity during the Congress. "The majority of the requests came for equipment, clinics for coaches and clinics for umpires and scorers," commented Vicini. "We will have to evaluate the real needs and how the equipment will be used before we distribute it in the future."
Vicini also informed the Congress that the highest amount of funding went directly to the Continental Confederations. "I will repeat what President Fraccari said. Continental Confederations are the key to development. We are happy to see how they are now more involved, but the Development Commission still needs more cooperation."
While the WBSC Executive approved a budget of $1,190,000 to support development in 2018 and 2019, a total $676.491 was allocated. "Besides these financial resources," added Vicini, "another amount of $439.317 has been allocated for the development of Baseball5."
"Various National Federations are starting to get familiar with the procedure," added Vicini on a final note. "We will need a more efficient information exchange process between WBSC Office, Continental Organisations, Commission Chair and Commission Members."
The Congress also received reports from the Coach Commission as well as presentations on Baseball5, the website and WBSC Scoring Application following the Open Workshops, which were reported on yesterday.
