Right to Play (RTP) Ghana gets new Country Manager

Accra, May 7, GNA - Dr Bella Bello Bitugu has been appointed the new Country Manager of Right To Play (RTP) - Ghana, a leading international humanitarian and development organization, which focuses on the transformative power of sports and play to build essential skills in children.

The organization, which operates in four regions of the country, namely Upper East, Northern, Greater Accra and Volta Regions with the vision of expanding to other regions, is also the seat of Right To Play West and Francophone Africa (WAFA) –Mali, Liberia, Benin and Rwanda.

RTP also works through a host of Athlete Ambassadors and Sports Clubs of world-wide repute and has been able in the past to organize important events in Ghana such as the visit of Chelsea Football Club.

Dr Bitugu, who takes over the position with vast experience in Education and Development backgrounds , told GNA Sports in Accra on Monday that he has come on board with a clear vision.

He said he aims at helping the organization to achieve its objectives through innovation, creativity, and sustainable strategies to address social and community issues through sports and play with children and the youth, especially the vulnerable and less privileged as their targets.

Dr Bitugu indicated that his leadership will also focus on building the capacity of the administrative team in the office, on the field, the volunteers and the coaches that deliver Right To Play modules.

The New Country Manager mentioned that he will cooperate with various stakeholders, national and international, governmental, non-governmental, private and public and hopes to bring to Ghana the vast amount of know-how, contacts, cooperation that he had won with his many years with Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC).

Dr Bitugu, an astute Sports and Development expert and one of the pioneers of using sport s as a platform for development, had his first degree at the University of Cape Coast, after which he left for Austria for further studies in 1992.

He read for his Masters and PHD in Education and Social Sciences at the University of Innsbruck in Austria with specialization in development and educational theories, sport and development and societies and cultures of Africa.

Dr Bitugu was the first black football referee in the Federal State of Tyrol in Austria and later worked as European Coordinator - Sport For Development at the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC).

He was a Lecturer in Educational Sciences and African Cultures at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Krems an der Donau both in Austria.

The Ghanaian has done diverse consultancies for SOS Children's Villages International, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) through Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), Ghanaian Fan Ambassador at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany for which he received the Fair Play Prize by FIFA at the World Players' award in Zurich in 2006 on behalf of all fans.

Dr Bitugu was also the recipient of CULTURE PRIZE of the city of Innsbruck 2010 for his contributions and achievement in using fighting all forms of discrimination in football and sport and using them as tool for intercultural cooperation, dialogue and coexistence in Austria and Europe.

RTP has its focus on activities in the areas of Basic Education and Child Development, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peace Building and Community Development and Participation.

It also has a strategic partnership between Right To Play and Chelsea Football Club and serves as a Secretariat to the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (SDP IWG) from 2004-2008 – a high-level policy initiative mobilizing 59 national governments and key stakeholders from UN agencies and civil society.

GNA