Capacity Building for Effective Sport Talent Development: Perceptions of Opportunities and Challenges among County Sports Teams' Officials in Kenya

Abstract

Capacity building is a critical game changer in enhancement of effective work performance in most sectors of society. One of these sectors in Kenya is sports, which constitutes the Social Pillar Vision 2030 that embodies the national development blue print. However, not much research has been done to examine capacity building among sports officials in Kenya in the context of opportunities and challenges. This paper presents and discusses the findings of a cross-sectional survey conducted among sports administrators and technical officials of sports teams drawn from 23 counties, during Kenya Youths Inter Sports Association (KYISA) Championships of 2019. The study examined capacity building opportunities and challenges among the county sports teams' officials in development of youth sporting talent. The study targeted 114 sports officials. The study found that there was inadequate capacity building and training among sports administrators and technical officials. Opportunities for capacity building among sports officials were available in the following areas: Effective mobilization and utilization of sports resources, Anti-doping sensitization, Motivation of self and student in sports, Technical skills training in sports, Dealing with negative cultural perceptions about sports, and selection of sports trainees. Challenges in capacity building among sports officials included inadequate funding, insufficient ports facilities, lack of equal opportunities for training and placement and lack of political goodwill. The study recommends that: Frequent capacity-building and training to be done for sports officials; Sport capacity building programmes should be devolved to the grassroots; There should be provision of sponsorship for willing coaches and officials to attend high level trainings and courses; Sport institutions and organizations should create a budget line for capacity building; and sports administrators and coaches to benchmark with other countries for best practices.