United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Introduction Context: Vorarlberg is one of total 9 federal states in Austria, area 2.600 km² and 370,000 inhabitants. One-third of population is a member of one of the 920 sports clubs, organised in 53 sport unions representing different sports. Sports takes over an important constitu-tional, educational, cultural, touristy as well as economical function. Because of this top-ranking importance the state Vorarlberg looked into this topic of sports- and activity behavior very critically in this region.
Up to now, there was no concrete, convertible and demand-oriented sport concept dealing all-encompassing with this topic.

The overall SWOT-analysis cannot be presented here, only a summary. A huge topic was sponsorship of sports. Sponsorship in Vorarlberg (per head) is the highest in whole Austria. However, the results remained far behind the expectations, Vorarlberg is ranking in the last fourth in Austria. An increase of the financial resources didn’t show desired effect, success in sports even decreased during the last years. A conscious linkage of sponsorship to measurable criteria was missing. Also, the criteria where not existing at this moment. There was no healthy incentive system as well as know-how for sports unions and clubs to optimize their structural deficits.

Vorarlberg always was and still is a region with high quality of life. Anyhow, different studies showed alarming trends. E.g. there was great need for action in schools and kindergarten. Fitness-level of 10 and 11-year old kids decreased by 17%. Furthermore analysis demonstrated signifi-cant worsening sports related abilities and excess weight with kids. Also, studies showed the huge potential in regular physical exercises – a reduction of widespread diseases like excess weight, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, but also backaches. Closely connected, mental health diseases are growing. In total, this leads to growing incapacity for work, as well as exploding health-care costs. It was shown, that physical exercises, independent in which age you start with and how good the basic level is, can help to improve the level very fast; and this also has significant impact in prophylaxis as well as therapy in medicine. The sensitizing of a new “moving culture” (Bewegungskultur) has to play a decisive role.

To summarize, there was a lack of mechanisms to counteract unsatisfactory trends in activity/moving culture and behaviour of eating, as well as missing effective structures including innovative incentive systems for top performances in elite- and serious sports. A long-term paradigm shift was inevitable.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
With this innovative concept, Vorarlberg succeeded in working against problems and weaknesses mentioned above. Summarized, the results and progresses resulted mainly from a “differentiated sponsorship system” established (this will be explained in detail in “Strategy to imple-ment”). Through these consistent qualitative and quantitative sponsorship - linked to measurable, objective criteria – an excellent new steering model was established. The strategies and arrangements of the different system partners are now collectively and systematically evaluated to derive continuous improvement activities from. Out of this, some results are e.g.: a lot of educated trainers, officers and sports managers from a broadly based basic and advanced training initiative. Furthermore, talented kids can be detected very early and accompanied via new profes-sional training systems up to world-class athletes. First outstanding results in elite and serious sports are already reached, with a current world champion and world cup winners. Also, Vorarlberg pins qualified hopes on some aspirants for Olympic winter games 2010 in Vancouver. For the growing “success culture” (Erfolgskultur) in sports, moreover it has to be mentioned that the sport unions meanwhile act on a much more structured and professional level. Therefore, probability of developing top-athletes continuously, is increasing. Regarding future development of the “moving culture” (Bewegungskultur) in population, there are also some results that can be demonstrated, mainly from an initiative called “Vorarlberg>>moving”. Through manifold awareness raising, as well as a huge number of educated people transporting and applying the established ideas in schools, kindergarten, companies and townships, outstanding trends can be demonstrated. Representative surveys show e.g. that the awareness level of this initiative increased from 28% in 2006 up to 75% last year. Likewise, already 20% of the inhabitants of Vorarlberg are more active during their daily routine, and 10% replied that their quality of life increased significantly. After all, already 80% of all households are willing to actively get exercise together with their kids (base level 55%). Moreover it turned out positively, that the demand for information and support from population highly increased, and the established offers and services from the “Sportservice Vorarlberg” are appreciated very much. Concluding, it can be said that already the whole population in Vorarlberg benefits from this unique initiative! Top Athletes, athletes, and officers in sport unions and sport clubs, but also schools, kindergarten, as well as companies. Also, there will be a positive impact in health care through decreasing health care costs.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The initiating and steering party was the sports policy in Vorarlberg. Representatives of all political parties were informed and consulted for all important decisions. During creation of this concept important professional principles were considered. So, it was paid attention to involve all relevant (social) actors at the right point of time. During the surveys and interviews not only representatives of all 53 sport unions were involved. Also, extremely important were the opinions of external professionals, especially trainers and officers in sport unions and clubs. They indeed know the sports environment in Vorarlberg, but they are no more actively involved because they left due to different reasons. Moreover, 8 workgroups were installed during the analysis phase, consisting of all kind of experts from population. The main topics were sports infrastructure, sports management, coaching, sports & media, competitive sports, sports development, sports & school. Further important input was provided from an analysis of youth behaviour in townships as well as an investigation of moving and activity behaviour in schools. As a whole, the population of Vorarlberg contributed a lot through participation in surveys and ongoing evaluations improving all kind of services. During implementation there were and still are a lot of different stakeholders involved. Sports policy is responsible for the financial framework and global target setting. “Sportservice Vorarlberg” as an institution and operational platform is the central place to go to get support for imple-mentation of defined arrangements. Of course, also trainers and officers in the unions and clubs, but also pedagogues in schools, kindergarten as well as multiplicators in companies and townships contribute a lot to making the vision alive. Generally, it has to be mentioned that in the cooperation especially the mixture an team-play of active sports experts, former athletes and offi-cers, professionals, as well as representatives of official institutions (schools, …) and townships made this success and created this huge ac-ceptance.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The primary goal in elite and serious sports is reaching top-performance and results. The primary goal in mass sports and healthy movement among “normal” population is to activate as many people as possible to be more active during their daily routine. The basic principles to reach a distinctive, overall sports culture, are: quantitative (money) AND qualitative sponsorship, to systematically chal-lenge but also reward structures, orientation on the best (“Go for Gold”), transparent, differentiated and fair sponsorship systems, permanent sensitization and motivation of all stakeholders, as well as continuous learning and improvement on all levels. The strategy for the “success culture” (Erfolgskultur) is mainly a three pillar sponsorship system with basic sponsorship for every sports union, as well as structural sponsorship and elite-sports sponsorship. Especially pillar 2 und 3 will attach importance to continuous development linked to measurable criteria. For utilizing structural sponsorship, sport unions have to undergo an evaluation, and are measured by 9 developed suc-cess factors. They have to build structures and procedures, as well as visions, strategies and development plan. Moreover, participation from trainers and officers in different kind of education programmes will be promoted. Also, sophisticated training- and diagnose systems for sport talents will be rewarded. Likewise, sport unions have to professionalize their human resource management, and especially up value honorary appointment. Aside, sport unions are rewarded for working on marketing and communication topics as well as cooperation with other partners in the general public. Sponsorship from the elite-sports can be achieved via a points-bases system, related to results at Olympic games, world championships, European Championships, and an appropriate talent-development system. Depending on their willingness to work on all this topics, sport unions can gain money, but invest to develop themselves. Besides this monetary sponsorship, all actors and target groups get qualitative support from the founded business areas within the “Sportservice Vorarlberg”. This service centre with highly qualified personal takes care of appropriate services which are permanently and mutually evaluated to satisfy existing requirements. The strategy to foster further development of a „moving culture“ (Bewegungskultur) is focusing on the broad population. The focus in here not only is sponsoring of events in public, but rather awareness raising and activation of the people in Vorarlberg. The events and campaigns are based on the areas movement/activities, nutrition and relaxation. The core is the initiative “Vorarlberg>>is moving” with many different events. E.g. communal certified health advisors were and still are educated to execute projects in health promotion. Moreover, there are a lot of edu-cated pedagogues for kids to establish suitable offers for activities. Another example is “Fit in Company”, health promoting actions are profes-sionally supported in companies. Through a multitude of these actions and campaigns a positive change in health-conscious behaviour has al-ready been achieved and a sustainable improvement of quality of life for the population in Vorarlberg can be demonstrated. These goals and strategies have been developed in numerous analysis, interviews, and workshops with all relevant actors. This is explained in the chapter “Implementation and Stakeholders”.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Although the developing process was arranged in logical, sequent phases, inside of this stages a continuous learning- and developing process took place. This process contains the steps 1) observe and analyse, 2) plan and design, 3) implement and steer, 4) learn and correct. The case history already began in 2006. Weaknesses and room for improvement out of first surveys gave reason to forcefully start the project “Sports Concept Vorarlberg” with comprehension of all relevant people. Parallel to the higher-ranking strategy process, fundamentals and struc-tures for a successful implementation were already established in 2006. The initiation of the project happened from June 2007 till January 2008. Essential topics were inspection of already existing documents and information, project planning and the assignment of a professional project team. The analysis phase was finished by end of the year 2008. Hereunder, there where kick-off events, the interviews already men-tioned, workshops and analysis-talks. The design of the concept was completed in August 2009. Important was the detailed design of goals, strategies and actions for implementation, as well as the passing and presentation of the concept and already achieved results to the general public. It was always the strategy to work on the weaknesses - derived from the analysis – already in parallel and in a very good quality. Therefore, four essential business areas where developed analogously. “Basics and advanced training” takes care of trainings, seminars, and events in order to prepare all relevant people for their duties and responsibilities. In 2007, the “Vorarlberg-Academy” with offers for trainers and officers in sports was founded. “Elite sport and Training Management” was mainly developed to ideally accompany athletes and teams regarding sports science, sports medicine, as well as sports psychology. “Health- and fitness management” is primarily specialized on the “moving culture” in population, e.g. focusing on people doing sports as their hobby and are interested in nutrition topics, but also in schools, townships, and com-panies. Numerous events within the Initiative “Vorarlberg>>is moving” supported sensitization and mobilization of the population. And the busi-ness area “Sports- und Structure Management” was founded this year to especially advance the analysis and evaluation of sport unions and clubs, as well as to push and support structure optimizing projects. Moreover, the stepwise implementation of the new sponsorship system is a major task in here. As a supporting process “Marketing and Communications” has been professionalized. An excellent information platform was founded for all relevant partners from population (http://www.sportservice-v.at/).

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
„Somebody who wants to change something has to go new ways” – this is the mission statement for this innovative initiative. To break this new grounds was containing change for every party, and change at first always involves reluctance and resistance, and fear of losing something. One example was the implementation of the “differentiated sponsorship system” with the premise “reward and challenge”. To create transpar-ency concerning degree of maturity in and between the sport unions, by means of assessment with the help of objective and checkable criteria, was a huge development step. To support this and all other changes appropriately, a generally applicable guideline was developed. This en-sures that adaptations are accepted and remain sustainable. For example visions are verbalized together with the sport unions, and the elabo-ration of opportunities and advantages for all groups is top-ranking. Everybody has to understand which benefits the chances will bring. In-volvement also plays an important role. While doing “stakeholder analysis”, persons concerned and involved are investigated concerning their attitude for aspired change, and adequate actions are taken. A very important thing was and always is honest and clear communication about the reason for change. Why do we have to go this new way? Of course, the implementation includes a lot of work and time commitment. For this reason, development of the four business are was so im-portant for acceptance. All persons were and still are professionally supported, nobody is left alone. The main strategy in here was continuing education. Moreover, the changes in the moving/activity behavior of population is a lifelong process. But the results of the surveys show that the ongoing sensitization and arrangement of different kinds of lectures and events is the right way! Building movement and exercise into the daily routine of population requires new impulses for motivation, over and over.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
During creation of the concept and implementation, hundreds of people were directly or indirectly involved – this was already explained within the paragraph “stakeholders”. All in all, the investment for development of the concept amounts to € 100,000. The convincing results from the detailed analysis phase made the importance for this initiative clear for everybody, especially also for politics! This actually led to shifting in the budget in favour of this topic. In order to implement all the plans sustainable, meanwhile 26 persons are employed full time at the “Sportservice Vorarlberg”, organized in the four business areas described. Not included in here are the already educated trainers and officers in sport unions and clubs, as well as trained opinion leaders and project managers in townships, companies, schools and kindergarten in Vorarlberg. Because of the strategy chosen, a lot of money will be saved in future, mainly due to increased efficiencies in sport unions with a consistent development of structures. But also re-sulting synergy potentials amongst the sport unions will help to save money. This, and a lot of other reasons, like savings in health care costs in future, will help Vorarlberg to profit from this investment

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
“To reward and challenge”, this is the underlying premise for this sports concept, and this is also the main argument for sustainability. Together with the system partners, mainly sport unions, strategies and actions are developed. But not only financial capital will be allocated – but the un-ions are also supported qualitatively in order to gain more sponsorship. They get even more money if they let them help to change to the better. This results in a very high efficiency of the money invested! It is also important to mention that the 9 “success factors” developed are now trans-ferable to all sport unions, regardless of the disciplines. Consequently, a pattern has been developed which allows to compare all unions with each other. Moreover, the further development of the „Sportservice Vorarlberg“ with all the provided services to the athletes and public, strongly contributes to sustainability of this initiative. Ongoing evaluations of services, further trainings and events takes care of permanent optimization including the opinion of all relevant parties. This single place to go and contact point saves money and time and guarantees constant and mutual learn-ing. Also, the high importance for the federal state Vorarlberg in respect of health care topics, economy, culture, and tourism, will significantly con-tribute to sustainability and transferability. Government is aware of the leverage effects of supporting this initiative, and willing to furthermore in-vest. With this innovative new concept, Vorarlberg is an absolute outrider in this context. This was also emphasized by the pleasing feedback from other states within Austria, but also shown by benchmarks and research on international level. This initiative is, in any case, transferable to other regions, of course considering some given basic conditions.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
One major reason for the success, already explained above, for sure was the excellent preparation with very detailed analysis. Only the in-volvement of all political parties, sport unions, but also experts from the population, made this high acceptance and sustainability possible. The integration of all relevant, future partners from the beginning is inevitable. A further premise which turned out to be a critical success factor was the continuous, mutual learning and development. Plans and strategies were not provided, but established in a process. The partners always act at same eye level. Together reflect was very important, but also to go back one step to get ahead 2 steps if necessary. Another success factor was to focus on basic and advanced training. During development of the potential areas to work on, it was reacted on shortfalls immediately through training and education. This was appreciated very much. Another key learning also was to link sponsorship to progress of the sport unions, as well the importance of support through the “Sportservice Vorarlberg”. A Win-win situation has been established. The further development was encouraged qualitatively and quantitatively. It was also very important to not only focus on elite and serious sports. Only if the wide base in population is sensitized and mobilized, a sports-culture can be created. Both layers profit from each other. Sensitization and lobbying in a positive sense is necessary. It is also crucial that the “Sportservice Vorarlberg” set goals for itself, so sport unions can also measure performance of them. They’re all in the same boat. Only if one of the partner performs, the other partner will reach it’s goals, and vice versa. Concluding, a key success factor also was a strong, mutual, motivating vision – To make Vorarlberg number 1 in sports within Austria! This vi-sion inspired all acting persons and stimulated to take the work on! And the most important steps are already done.


Institution Name:		Sportservice Vorarlberg
Institution Type:		Organization Performing Outsourced Public Service Functions
Contact Person:		Alexander Mohr
Title:		Mag.
Telephone/ Fax:
Institution's / Project's Website:
E-mail:		alexander.mohr@sportservice-v.at
Address:		Lustenauerstrasse 64
Postal Code:		6850
City:		Dornbirn
State/Province:		Vorarlberg
Country:		Austria

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information