Briefing Paper: employing a dedicated National Development Officer

Since 2012 we’ve taken significant steps towards our vision of “Inspiring thousands of new and existing participants to enjoy and grow Korfball on their doorstep”. Some of our key successes have been;

• Training over 800 new coaches and referees as part of our workforce programmes
• Overseeing significant growth; with over 1,000 more participants involved every week.
• Developing the England Korfball Inspired (EKI) programme, which has seen its eleventh club complete accreditation
• Embarking on significant new initiatives such as raising the profile and professionalism of the Grand Finals.

Internally, we have increased the number of volunteers and re-structured some key committees, e.g. International Strategic Committee (ISC), tackled key sustainability issues through insourcing key activities e.g. website, as well as continuing to develop our policies and procedures to strengthen the governance of the sport.

Given the growth in people playing korfball and the increase in new teams joining the sport, the board have been considering how best to build on this momentum. We need to find the right balance to continue to grow the sport while at the same time provide the services our members’ value and expect.

We have come to the view that the sport is now at the point where employing a National Development Officer (NDO) would provide the required time to drive the sport further forward. The NDO would continue to work with local areas to grow participation, profile and professionalism and the board believe this is the most cost effective way rather than continuing to out-source member services.

The attached paper aims to provide background to the board’s thinking and provide an opportunity for members to raise any questions or thoughts for consideration to the Board.

We welcome responses by Wednesday 21st June 2017, which will be considered at the board next meeting on Sunday 25th June 2017.