KEYNOTE ADDRESS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF

NATIONAL SPORTS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN

MAURITIUS

I would first like to thank CABOS and the Commonwealth Secretariat

providing me with the opportunity to address you on a major policy
development for the sport sector in Mauritius.
But allow me as well to welcome you to Mauritius as Permanent Secretary of
the Ministry of Youth and Sports. I hope the arrangements put in place for
your comfort, convenience and proper deliberations are to your satisfaction
and appreciation. If ever you have any difficulty, do not hesitate to contact
our support team. I am sure they will do what it requires to make your stay
as comfortable as possible.
1. Introduction
This is a first in the history of our country: the very first time that the
Republic of Mauritius has adopted a policy for sport and physical activity.
From a sporting point of view, for 49 years Mauritius has focused on the
results of its high-level athletes in regional and international competitions
with some form of success; with unfortunately, some brilliant results
masking our difficulty to regularly qualify many athletes at the most
important events or to bring medals.
But 49 years without a sports policy, they are also 49 years without being
fully aware of the public health problems that are currently ravaging our
country. In which other country in the world do we meet more people who
die of diabetes than in Mauritius? No.
Today, 200.000 pre-diabetic add to a population of more than 240,000 adults
already suffering from diabetes. If nothing is done in the next 30 years, by
2050 our population will be as small as in 1982, getting older and getting
sicker. The most recent figures published indicate that out of 9000 annual
deaths, 3500 are caused either by cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. There
are between 400 and 500 amputations yearly caused by diabetes. There are
around 1500 cardiac surgeries annually. Never in the history of our country
have we experienced greater financial pressure on our public health system.
In the face of this national emergency, an extremely serious question that we
had to address was:
Which Mauritius did we want to bequeath to our children and
grandchildren?
A country whose recent economic progress has left indelible marks on the
health and well-being of its inhabitants?
Our aim was for Mauritius, through sport and physical activity, to become an
internationally recognized country for its sporting achievements and the
good health of its citizens rather than for world records of the prevalence of
noncommunicable diseases.
2. Introduction of Policy concept
With the above purpose in mind we embarked on the elaboration of a
National Sports and Physical Activity Policy. In the beginning, the aim was to
have a policy for Sport but gradually we had to change our focus and include
physical activity within the policy. Over various months, our consultants
evaluated the sports and physical activity ecosystem in Mauritius and
Rodrigues via delivering interviews and reviewing datasets. Consultations
involved Ministries, local authorities, statutory bodies, sports clubs and
federations, schools and universities and corporates. The ills of the sports
sector were identified. The main findings were:

(a) Mauritius is among the top countries in the world whose population
has a high incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases associated with
physical inactivity. The lack of physical activity among our people impacts
much on the health expenditures of Government, which have risen
dramatically over the past 20 years.
(b) The sports and physical activity landscape are fragmented with many
stakeholders involved at different levels. Resources for the development of
sports are not uniformly distributed among the stakeholders. The
stakeholders have no nationwide agreed visions or objectives for sport and
physical activity.
(c) There is no comprehensive plan for sports excellence in terms of
priority sports, targets and funding. Consequently, the last ten years have
seen a decline in the number of elite medals won at top level.
(d) There is enough supply of public sports infrastructure across the
country, but they are under-utilized. Maintenance of these facilities is
focused mainly on reactive repairs and not on a proactive strategic
maintenance plan.

The awareness of the urgency to act for the well-being of all has been the
foundation of the initiative taken by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to
define a sport and physical activity policy to the national scale. Based on that
independent analysis of the facts, strengths and weaknesses of Mauritian
sport, but also inspired by the examples of countries that have been able to
reverse the trend of sedentary lifestyle, the National Sport and Physical
Activity Policy has become a reality.

It governs the functioning of the entire National Landscape over the next ten
years and includes three transformational themes, under which sit 20 core
recommendations, namely -

(a) Foster a culture of community sport and physical activity;

(b) Create an amateur to elite sport environment, and;
(c) Develop a vibrant and growing sport economy.

The focus of the 20 recommendations are:

(a) physical activity for all, for a fitter and healthier population, cutting
across generations;
(b) Excellence in the sports arena at all levels, grassroot to elite. A well-
structured development pathway for the young talents under highly skilled
mentors;
(c) Creating and developing a vibrant sports and physical activity
economy, luring the private sector to increase their participation technically
and financially;
(d) Increasing the ease and efficiency of access and usage of our sports
infrastructure across Mauritius and Rodrigues, and;
(e) Providing a legal matrix to regulate and stimulate the sports and
physical activity sector.

For your benefit I would like to elaborate in more details on the three core
themes identified and retained.
First theme - Foster a culture of community sport and physical activity
First, the development of a culture of sport and physical activity. The policy
aims at encouraging the participation of everyone in exercise and sport. This
does not mean making each one of us tennis champions or weightlifting
champions but making all Mauritians aware of the importance and urgency
of changing our lifestyle. For example, by promoting walking to the
detriment of motorized transport or by allowing all our students to develop
during their schooling the motor skills that will be essential throughout their
lives.
Regarding physical education at school, it is essential to change attitudes
about the balance between physical exercise and academic disciplines. We
have always favoured classical education over physical activity. Many
countries are proving to us today that we have been wrong, and that sport
does not interfere with student success, on the contrary: sport helps reduce
absenteeism at school, increases the chances of passing exams and
instills essential values, such as self-knowledge, courage, team spirit or
perseverance. Increasing the quality and quantity of physical education at
school is one of the twenty "actions" of our National Sport and Physical
Activity Policy.
We also hope that the transition from student life to working life is not, as
we often see, synonymous with a reduction in sports activity. The policy
therefore provides for the Ministry of Youth and Sport to work with all public
and private sector stakeholders to set up programs for their employees. To
set the example, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has already started a
programme of exercise at work which is in its early stages. We hope to lead
the way and be a pioneer in this field.
The medical sector is also concerned because we will allow doctors to
prescribe exercise to their patients. This provision will be accompanied by
the implementation of community groups, which will enable everyone to
practice the exercise that is prescribed to them under motivating and safe
conditions.
This National Policy will govern the field of sport and physical activity over
the next ten years and every Mauritian is concerned. It means everyone,
regardless of age, sex, social status, condition, religion or ethnic group. That's
why we are going to set up a policy for Diversity and Inclusion allowing
everyone to benefit from identical conditions of access to sport and physical
activity in general.
All together, we are committed today to putting into practice a new vision of
the Mauritian community sport:
"Healthier citizens, happier communities, and a stronger
nation. "
Our goal is to reach the figure of 35% of adult Mauritians who respect the
recommendations of the World Health Organization, namely 150 minutes of
weekly physical activity in 2028. This figure is 23% today according to the
WHO.
Second theme - Create an amateur to elite sport environment
The increase in the number of our fellow citizens practicing regular physical
activity will have the direct consequence of consolidating the foundations of
the Elite Mauritian sport environment, which is the second theme of this
Policy. Allowing our federations to have more practitioners in which they
can identify the talents of tomorrow is indeed an essential element to our
future sports success on the international scene. But that's not enough.
If we have sometimes had great results, from the Indian Ocean Islands
Games, (the latest being the one held in Mauritius in July this year and where
we won 224 medals, of which 92 were gold) until the world championships
and even an Olympic medal, we must aspire to more regularity at the highest
level. Rather than aiming for utopian goals in terms of Olympic medals for
short-term deadlines like Tokyo or Paris, albeit the fact that we cannot
escape these short term aims, the National policy focuses on what is
necessary to put in place to give us the means of our ambitions and enable
us to realize our vision of high-level sport:
«Inspire Mauritians and Mauritians in the pursuit of excellence on the
international scene»
The Ministry of Youth and Sports is currently working on a comprehensive
strategy for Elite sport, placing the athlete at the center of attention to
provide what he or she needs to succeed. From the infrastructure of the
competition network to the medical support for athletes, nothing will be left
to chance to offer our representatives the best chances of success. In
particular, it seems essential that we take advantage of the very high
standard sports facilities that are being built on the Côte d'Or site.
We envision that this site will become in the medium term the epicenter of
sport and physical activity in Mauritius. To do this, a sports academy will be
created, as well as a National High-Performance Center. These two entities
will bring together on a single site all our athletes, young talents and staff.
We are particularly aware of the effort needed to provide Mauritius with a
network of coaches of all levels, from facilitators involved in creating a safe
and fun environment for children to level 3 and 4 coaches who will guide our
athletes to international success. To do this, the policy also provided for the
creation of a national coaching institute in Côte d'Or, which will be
responsible for forming a network of coaches in all sports and at all levels.
All these actions will allow Mauritius to be more represented at the highest
level: our goal is to qualify 20 athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games
in Los Angeles in 2028, to compare with the 14 athletes who participated in
Rio 2016.
Third theme - Developing a vibrant and growing sport economy
Building a strong ecosystem of participation in sport and physical activity
also forms the basis of the third theme of national policy, namely the
development of a vibrant economy around sport. We believe that if we play
our cards right, we can make sport a pillar of the economy.
We are lucky that our country enjoys fantastic natural resources, between
ocean, mountains and national park, and a very high-quality hotel tourism
infrastructure. These resources are not sufficiently exploited today for the
benefit of sport; we will develop the use of these resources, both for locals
and tourists - with the goal of making Mauritius "The Active Sport Island" -.
We will also ensure that sports infrastructure is better maintained and more
easily accessible to the public. This involves the digitization of the access
system but also a greater attention paid to maintenance planning.
Eventually, everyone can easily book a badminton lesson, a judo lesson or a
football field, from their smartphone.
Developing an economy around sport and physical activity also means
creating many jobs in the public and private spheres. Coaches, physical
education teachers, traders in the sports sector, etc., so as many trades will
offer new employment opportunities to serve the additional demand for
participation in sport and physical activity.
Ultimately - in 2028 - the objective of the policy is to increase the
contribution of sport and physical activity to the gross national product from
its current level of 1.2% to 1.8%.
Requirements
A policy, three themes, twenty actions, for a single ambition: to see our
country develop its sports sector at all levels and three essential elements to
ensure its success:
First, a seamless collaboration between the different ministries involved in
this policy: education, health, social inclusion, gender equality, youth and
sports and many others. All these ministries will work "hand in hand " over
the next ten years to make our ambition a reality, through a taskforce that is
being created. These departments have also launched dedicated programs,
accessible to all.
For example, the Ministry of Gender Equality has launched a number of
"walking clubs" that allow everyone to walk in good conditions and influence
our behavior. Each of the Ministries present today will communicate in the
coming weeks about these programs, which will offer varied opportunities
for the entire population.
We have also started to work with the private sector, which is a key player
in the development of this policy. In a recent interview the Group CEO of one
of the most powerful national conglomerates stated that the future of the
tourism sector lies in sport and that a private- public partnership is of
paramount importance to the success of this enterprise. We have already
sent words to him to come and visit our infrastructure at Cote D’or and we
will soon engage him in a consultation on how this collaboration can be
crystallized into a viable partnership.
Second, an increase in the budget allocated to the sport and physical activity
sector over the next ten years. I would like to draw everyone's attention to
the fact that this policy will generate a significant return on investment: for
every rupee invested, more than three rupees will be generated in terms of
reducing public health expenditure, increasing productivity in enterprise,
new jobs created or direct contribution to tourism.
Thirdly, the focus of everyone's energy from Mauritius, Rodrigues and the
ultra-marine islands to make this goal a reality.

Conclusion and call-to-action

"Sport is more than just sport".
Sport can help to shape the kind of Mauritius in which we want our kids to
grow up. The evidence backs up what common sense tells us instinctively –
that fit and active kids overall have stronger mental health and do better at
school. That sports - team sports in particular - promote social inclusion and
cohesion, and teach vital lifelong personal qualities such as resilience,
courage, teamwork, winning with humility, and losing graciously. Through
sport and physical activity, we will enable our citizens to be healthier, reduce
crime, reduce the grip of drugs on our children - a phenomenon that is
currently wreaking havoc in all segments of our country.
Sport is more than just sport because there’s nothing like it as a force for
social change and good.
Look at the rise of Paralympic sports, one of the greatest forces for good in
the world over the past 30 years. The message it sends to all of us - usually
dealing with vastly smaller challenges - about overcoming adversity, about
you getting on top of life not life getting on top of you, are immensely
powerful and inspiring.
Sport can also play a vital role in female empowerment. I see it as a virtuous
circle, contributing to the message of female empowerment, and a
beneficiary of it in turn by attracting talented female athletes to join the
sports arena and possibly representing the country at regional, continental
and international level.
At the international level, sport is also a fantastic vehicle that will enable
Mauritius to make significant progress on Sustainable Development Goals
set by the United Nations: increase the quality of our education, promote
gender equality, improve the health of all, reducing inequalities are all goals
to which sport can contribute.
Finally, having a point of excellence as a nation in a field of universal appeal
and interest to people around the world, that brings people together through
common interest and passion irrespective of nationality, race, religion or the
sundry other things that divide people, makes us a natural friend and partner
to the world.
It’s often said that luck is where preparedness meets opportunity. We are
getting prepared through a well-balanced Sports Policy. We will endeavor to
create opportunities and ride our luck as much as we can.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen for you attention.