Under the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport, a special Voluntary Fund was set up so countries could apply for financial assistance to help them develop their anti-doping capacity and carry out their obligations and responsibilities under the Convention. There is currently US$ 2.4 million available and applications are welcomed by UNESCO so that the funding can be put to good use.
 

Anti-doping projects, specifically:

• Education projects focusing on youth and sports organizations;
• Policy advice including assistance to administrative practices, policies and regulations and legislation for anti-doping in your country to help each country comply with the Convention;
• Anti-doping mentoring and capacity development including the establishment of a National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) as an example.
   

Any country which has ratified the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport. Click here to check if your government has ratified the Convention. Applications can be made through a designated government channel, such as the Ministry with responsibility for sport or the National Commission of UNESCO. If a country does not have a Department or Ministry responsible for sport, another designated government representative or Department can write and submit the application.
 

US$20,000 for a national project and US$ 50,000 for a regional project. Note that a regional project needs confirmation of support including letters from a minimum of three countries. However, the number of countries that might benefit from the project could be higher.
 

Three requests per country can be made every biennium, i.e. every two years, with the start date for the current biennium of January 1, 2010 – 31 December 2011. All the paperwork for one project has to be completed and verified by UNESCO before the next project can start.

A copy of the handbook (available in six languages) with application forms included can be found by clicking here.

Please contact Paul Marriott Lloyd, Program Specialist for Anti-Doping, Sector for Social and Human Sciences
e-mail: p.marriott-lloyd@unesco.org  
Tel: +33 (0)1 45 68 45 33

The WADA Regional Office Directors are also available to work with you to complete the forms or provide ideas for projects.
 

African Region: Rodney Swigelaar, Regional Office Director, Cape Town, South Africa
Rodney.swigelaar@wada-ama.org  
 

Americas Region: Maria José Pesce, Regional Office Director, Montevideo, Uruguay
Mariajose.pesce@wada-ama.org  
 

Asia and Oceania Regions: Kazuhiro Hayashi, Regional Office Director, Tokyo, Japan
Kazuhiro.hayashi@wada-ama.org

UNESCO has plans to make available examples as soon as possible. Currently the timing for this is in 2011.

An Approval Committee made up of six representatives of Governments with anti-doping expertise, from the six UNESCO regions. A representative from WADA is also on the Committee and provides advice to the Committee on the applications. The representatives on the Approval Committee are appointed by the Conference of Parties (COP), which meets every two years at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris. The next COP meeting will be held November 14-16, 2011.

Currently it meets twice annually. It can also make decisions without meeting if there are enough applications. The next meeting is scheduled for June 6, 2011.