Uganda Olympics committee president Dr. Donald Rukare emphasize construction of permanent home and second olympiafrica center in his end of year message

END OF YEAR PRESIDENT WORD

2023 was a year full of activity and action within the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and Commonwealth Games Uganda (CGU) family. It is clear that we have put the tribulations and woes of COVID-19 firmly behind us. Guided by our strategic plan we have able to realize over 99% of our planned activities for the year. The Executive Committee held all its scheduled meetings, all council meetings were conducted, attendance of the National Sports Forums was done as well as holding our Annual General Assembly 2023.

Athlete support and development remained central to our mission. We have six athletes on the Paris 2024 Olympic Scholarship program, one on the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa scholarship program and supported athletes attend a winter sports camp in South Korea. Our athlete’s commission is active and supported as well.
Our commissions were able to carry out several activities promoting olympism. We also held several engagements with our membership through virtual online webinars on a wide range of issues such as digitalization of sports and unpacking the new law, National Sports Act 2023. We continued to support our members in areas such as participation in the international federation congresses and participation in qualification events for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Awareness programs on anti-doping were conducted by the National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) in collaboration with the UOC Medical Commission.

Capacity building of our members remained a key focus area in the year. Sports Administrators Courses ( SAC) and Advanced Sports Management Courses ( ASMC) were held with over 150 administrators and athletes being equipped with much needed sports management knowledge. We shall continue to carry out these programs in 2024.
We have established and /or initiated partnerships with inter alia the Embassy of Cuba, Embassy of South Korea, National Forestry Authority and Uganda Tourism Board (UTB). We look forward to fostering these relationships as well as enhancing our footprint in this domain. We continue to collaborate with the National Council of Sports (NCS) and the Ministry of Education and Sports. We value this relationship and will continue to nurture it going forward.
During the year, we hosted a delegation from the Eritrean Olympic Committee on a study visit as well as held a working visit to the Kenya Olympic Committee. We participated in the Africa Beach Games in Tunis, the Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago registering several podium performances.

We engaged in a number of regional and international spaces involving the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), ANOCA Zone 5, Commonwealth Games Federation and the International Olympic Committee.

The novel game connect project supported by the Olympic Refuge Foundation ( ORF) entered into its second phrase. The project continues to show the role sport can play in social protection and addressing mental health in refugee communities.

While we were able to achieve several a few milestones in the year, we are yet to embark on the construction of our permanent home and the second olympiafrica center. We firmly intend to follow up on these critical initiatives in 2024.

As we close out 2023, we would like to take a moment to pay tribute to all our members of our sporting family that passed on. We shall always remember them, and their collective legacies will endure.

Looking ahead to 2024, the Paris Olympic Games will form the major event in our calendar. So far, we are pleased to note that 18 athletes (16 from athletics’, 1 rowing and 1 cycling (road)) have qualified for the games. It is envisaged that a few more will qualify as well.

I thank, my executive committee team, all our members, the secretariat, commission members, partners, NCS, MOES, the Government of Uganda, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Olympic Solidarity (OS), Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and the media for all your support during the year. We look forward to an even better 2024.

Dr. Donald Rukare
President UOC/ CGU