Lausanne, Switzerland, February 19, 2010 – The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Development Department is proud to present the 2009 Volleyball Cooperation Programme (VCP) Report, the first VCP report of its kind, which was unveiled on the FIVB website on Friday.

The VCP, formerly known as Sports Aid programme, has been the essence of the Development Commission since 1989 and is the FIVB's fundamental grass root platform through which constructive development action is taken to support national federations in order to raise their level of Volleyball and Beach Volleyball.

"We are delighted to be able to present this first ever VCP report," FIVB Technical and Development Director Mr. Helgi Thorsteinsson said. "It gives an excellent insight into the tremendous development work the FIVB is doing and can also be a tool for other federations to actually learn new methods for developing their sport.

"Whilst the number of courses and participants in 2009 can be rated as satisfactory, more importantly, this report gives federations and participants vital feedback and encouragement to continue on the excellent path of development they have already started."

The main objectives of the VCP are to generate a permanent development impact and to ensure that Volleyball and Beach Volleyball take firm roots within countries and regions that many would think as impossible, mainly due to many environmental constraints from both an economic and political perspective.

The VCP is one of the key tools behind the FIVB's and FIVB president's new philosophy of making investment into development a top priority. The FIVB invested more in development during 2009 than any other year in its history by allocating more financial resources to the FIVB Confederations to help national federations. In 2010, the FIVB has pledged to invest more in development both financially and in terms of resources.

A total of 48 VCP courses took place in 2009 with the Africa Confederation (CAVB) hosting 26. Elsewhere the Asia Confederation (AVC) had courses in 12 countries, NORCECA four and South America (CSV) and Oceania three.

The new report also shows that 1,234 participants took part in training programmes, a slight decrease on 2008.

The year 2010 is expected to feature 58 VCP courses. On average, there are 55 FIVB VCP courses per year.