ASIAN DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP AND PDC COUNCILLORS MEETING 2023 IN ABU DHABI

On February 28 and March 1, the FIDE Planning and Development Commission (PDC) held the first Continental Development Workshop for 2023 with Asian federations and the first in person councillor meeting of the new team in Abu Dhabi.

The workshop was attended by the President of FIDE Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich, Mrs. Dana Reizniece-Ozola (FIDE Deputy Chair of the Management Board), Mr.  Laurent Freyd (PDC Chair), Mrs. Kema Goryaeva (PDC Secretary), PDC Councillors Mr. Bakyt Omurzakov (Asia), Mrs. Susan Namangale (Africa), Mrs. Majlinda Pilinci (Europe), PDC Member Mr. Adel Alamiri and representatives of the Asian Chess Federation and National Chess Federations of the continent.

A global overview of FIDE development priorities was shared by Dana Reizniece-Ozola as an introduction.

Then Laurent Freyd shared the vision of the PDC on interactions with federations and having a development mindset.

Among the important activities of the commission, funding is a key one. Kema Goryaeva presented the updated funding process and templates.

Bakyt Omurzakov introduced 2 asian federations to present their projects from 2022, considered as best practices:

• Bhutan Chess – Dorji Tsheriing, Joint Secretary, described the collaboration of the federation with UNICEF to set up their national youth championship
• Chinese Taipei – Dina Chen, General Secretary, gave a pictorial snapshot of their Chess In Schools programme emphasizing the involvement of parents

Susan Namangale covered key topics related to good governance which generated active engagement among the participants.

Majlinda Pilinci summed it up with a federation management topic focusing on human resources.

The first in person PDC Councillor meeting followed:

• A final review of the funding documents for 2023 – with a start of this year’s funding cycle this month
• Plans for 2023-2026
• Internal organsation of the team
• Cross commission collaboration
• PDC communication, IT, social media and website strategy

Going forward PDC plans to increase engagement with all continents and federations.