ISTA FONDATION HAS COLLABORATED WITH CANA (AFRICAN SWIMMING FEDERATION), INTO SWIMMING PROGRAMMES TO SUPPORT IN TRAINING PEOPLE ON HOW TO SWIM IN AFRICA.  

According to The World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 360 000 people die from drowning annually. The estimated results do not include intentional drowning deaths or drowning deaths caused by flood disasters and or water transport incidents such as ferry accidents.  CANA initiated the FINA campaign “Swimming for All, Swimming for Life” to reduce the drowning rates among African countries several years ago. Thanks to modest funding from FINA (International Swimming Federation), continued National Federation support as well as support from private individuals the program has managed to continue to grow and is now organizing swimming classes in numerous schools and community organizations throughout Africa.

As the partner of CANA, ISTA will provide its support in holding annual training camps and seminars to train local volunteers to be able to provide swimming classes in their respective communities. As language is a barrier in many countries, the seminars/workshops has been organized in English and French. ISTA experts will offer lectures and provide, free of charge, training to local volunteers on teaching swimming techniques.

As there are 54 countries in Africa, the parties will focus on holding these seminars/workshops in a few designated regions to start with and rotate the program on around-robin basis so that all countries benefit in the long run.  ISTA will support CANA in holding training camps and seminars starting in August 2019 to train local volunteers to be able to provide swimming classes in their respective communities. As a part of the project, ISTA will also launch its Global Volunteer Program with CANA, sending volunteers to serve the camps and CANA competitions from every corners of the world.

Mr. Sam Ramsamy, (IOC Honorary Member,Vice President FINA, President CANA) has mentioned: “We are very proud to be part of the Great project of FINA “Swimming for All, Swimming for Life”， it’s also a project recognized by UNESCO. With more support from ISTA Fondation, we are confident to make a significant progress in the coming year. More and more young people in Africa will have the chance to learn the skills and experience the joy of swimming.”

A formal meeting has been settled during the 18^th FINA World Championship in Gwangju, Korea from 12^th to 28^th July 2019. President of CANA and Founder of ISTA will participate the meeting with main participants national swimming federations of Africa.

About CANA:

African Swimming Confederation (CANA) is the African Swimming Confederation: Confédération Africaine de Natation. It is the Continental Association charged with overseeing swimming for Africa. CANA was founded in 1970, with 7 members. By 2008 it had 43 members.

Website: www.canaswim.com

About ISTA Fondation:

ISTA Fondation is a Swiss based Non-Profit organization focused on providing premium physical training and sports educational services to international sports federations, associations, clubs, athletes, trainer and school institutions in underdeveloped and or war-torn countries. ISTA works with an extensive global network of top sports trainers, sports science experts and lecturers, providing the highest standards of training and educational services in addition to offering certain certificates and licenses. 

Website: www.istafondation.org