Agitos Foundation Launches 2017 Grant Support Program

The Agitos Foundation, the International Paralympic Committee’s development arm, launched the fifth edition of its Grant Support Programme (GSP) on Thursday (1 June) making EUR 650,000 available for Para sport development projects.

Grants of up to EUR 40,000 have been made available for IPC members for awareness campaigns, education, training of coaches, classifiers and technical officials, research projects and equipment in both summer and winter sports.

Since its launch in 2013, the GSP has invested EUR 2.6 million in supporting 126 Para sport development projects across the world, making a significant impact on the growth of the Paralympic Movement.

So far 47 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), four Regional Organisations (ROs), 17 International Federations (IFs) and four International Organisations of Sports for the Disabled (IOSDs) have benefitted from the GSP reaching more than 330,000 people.

Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, said: "Since its launch in 2013 the Grant Support Programme has made a significant impact on the Paralympic Movement with more than one in three IPC members benefitting from financial support.

"The quality and quantity of applications increases year-on-year and we are confident that the projects we support this year will not only strengthen the Paralympic Movement but provide more access to Para sport around the world."

This year the Agitos Foundation is calling for proposals from NPCs and ROs in the areas of athlete talent identification, Paralympic Movement awareness, national sport technical education, and opportunities for Para athletes from grassroots to the high performance level.

IFs and IOSDs are invited to submit applications which involve organisational capacity building, educational tools and training for international technical officials, coaches and classifiers, and sport equipment.

All IPC members can also present projects to prepare athletes to become ambassadors for the Paralympic Movement, including both Proud Paralympian leader training sessions and the implementation of Proud Paralympian workshops.

In an effort to provide opportunities for refugees and internally displaced persons to access Para sport activities in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, NPCs and IFs are also encouraged to present projects to benefit these populations.

Projects should also mainstream the importance of gender equality and athletes with high support needs. Successful projects must start after 1 October 2017 and conclude before 30 September 2018.

The online portal for applications will be available for submissions from Thursday 1 June 2017 00:00 (GMT+1) until Friday 14 July 2017 23:59 (GMT+1). Successful projects will be announced on 10 September 2017.

The guidelines and instructions on how to apply for the 2017 Agitos Foundation Grant Support Programme have been published here. https://www.paralympic.org/agitos-foundation/programmes/grant-support-programme

For more information, please contact:

Craig Spence

IPC Director of Media and Communications

E-mail: craig.spence@paralympic.org

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