Zeina Mina: "Not worried about the future of the Games of La Francophonie"

Zeina Mina, Director of the International Committee for the Games of La Francophonie (CIJF).

CIJF

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

6 min

The next Games of La Francophonie, which were to take place in 2021 in New Brunswick (Canada), will finally take place in two years in DR Congo.

The Director of the International Games Committee (CIJF) provides an update on this 2022 edition and, more generally, on this event which combines sporting and cultural events every four years.

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Of course !

We must not hide our face.

Of course, this additional year is advantageous so that we can prepare and organize the Games more calmly and have time to put everything in place.

Because there are constructions to be done in the DRC.

There are also rehabilitations to do.

So, with one more year, we are more peaceful.

The Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa is currently undergoing rehabilitation.

Is this an infrastructure on which you are counting a lot for the 2022 Games of La Francophonie

There is the Stade des Martyrs, yes, and the Tata Raphaël Stadium to be rehabilitated.

But there is also the accommodation village to do.

This is the big project.

Will the Games program be adapted accordingly or will we witness the same sporting and cultural events as in Abidjan in 2017

We are continuing the same program.

There are no planned changes.

In any case, removing or adding proofs is not a decision for the CIJF alone.

There is a whole process to modify the program.

So, we are renewing the same disciplines for the moment.

Speaking of Abidjan, this will therefore be the second Games in a row to take place in a so-called “

We are in a trend in which we no longer speak of "North" or "South" countries.

We are talking about francophone countries, quite simply.

So we are going to make a call for applications.

We will study the files of all candidate countries, whether from the South or from the North.

There is no longer that speech, anyway.

[…]

Between the difficulties in finding a replacement in New Brunswick and the current global economy, are you worried about the allocation of the 2025 Games

In fact, it was not difficult to find a country for 2021. New Brunswick withdrew in March 2019 and in June another country, the DRC, was chosen.

The deadlines were tight.

But if we had re-launched a call for candidates with more time, we might have had more candidate countries.

I am not worried about the future of the Games.

It is a tool which attracts, which is very important, which has a lot of societal impact in the organizing countries […].

The Games of La Francophonie are a mobilizing event.

Today, for the DRC, despite all the difficulties - including sanitary ones - we are already at more than 30 countries registered for the 2022 edition.

You just have to convey a good image.

We really have to talk about the essence of these Games, their history and present them as they deserve.

Today, the countries are not negative vis-à-vis the organization of the Games of La Francophonie.

But, like other games, they require money.

In sports, there are norms and standards.

But we do not demand the standards of the Olympic Games, even if we must meet these well-defined criteria, in order to have fields validated by the international sports federations.

This generates unavoidable costs and fees.

It is the event, in a more global way, that is questioned in the world.

These are not the Games of La Francophonie.

[…]

TO (RE) READ ► Carole Gomez: "It may be time to renovate the Games of La Francophonie"

Is it anachronistic to want to organize a big event with thousands of people while wanting to maintain a reasonable financial cost for the host country

If we take the example of the DRC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is in the process of sports diplomacy.

She wants to use this tool to display visibility, another image of the DRC.

It will for example allow him to develop basketball courts, while the Congolese have very good players but no covered courts.

Only football is really developed in the DRC.

[…]

The Games of La Francophonie will make it possible to create rooms and sports facilities, while remaining within normal standards

.

We are not in the competition.

We are not looking for the DRC to display the best infrastructure in the world.

We attended the World Athletics Championships in Qatar.

It was fabulous but we are not looking for that.

We are trying to organize a competition that meets the criteria and standards, without going into the superfluous, and while providing the host country with a means of developing sports disciplines for the future.

Because, today, sport is an essential development tool, which has a societal impact.

The European Commission, the United Nations […], use this tool which is sport to develop societies.

[…] Today, with the Games of La Francophonie, we are giving these countries visibility to develop their infrastructures and organize their federations, because we also provide training and support, with the support of the Conference of Ministers for Youth and Sports of Countries with Shared French (CONFEJES) […].

We are moving in the direction of sustainable development, societal and ecological impacts.

We are working in this direction.

We have a modest but well-organized tool that meets standards while having other aims than the Olympics.

We are not in competition.

[…]

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• 2021 Francophonie Games

• Sports

• DRC

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