World football governing body, FIFA, and The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) have combined forces to come up with amended Statutes as part of a bid to improve the governance of the sport at all levels.

A release from the JFF said earlier this month, Sarah Solemale, Senior Manager Governance, led discussions with the JFF hierarchy about its statutes.

Also at that meeting were Director of Caribbean Member Associations Affairs, Horace Reid, and One CONCACAF and Caribbean Projects Senior Manager, Howard McIntosh.

According to Solemale, FIFA, has since 2016, been targeting improved governance structures throughout the organisation, first within FIFA itself, and then throughout its member associations.

FIFA wants legislative, strategic, operational, and separation of powers among its member states and wants these changes to be made within the JFF before December 2020.

According to the release, the following was discussed:

1. Who constitutes a member of the Federation and by so should be represented at the Congress. In this regard, the representation of regional bodies (parishes); interest groups (schools, referees etc) and the professional league was the recommendation from FIFA. By extension, the percentage representation of these groups would have to be determined. All members must be legal entities.

2. The role and composition of the Board of Directors. On this FIFA recommended for discussion that three important areas of expertise must be represented on the Board: legal, finance and commercial. The recommendation is also that Board members cannot be delegates at Congress as this represents a major conflict of interest and also that there be a special focus on the competencies and efficiencies at the Board level. The composition must be guided by the question, how can the Board of Directors be made efficient to serve the development of the sport. In this regard, the Board also needed to operate on the principle of separation of powers. FIFA is also being insistent on gender inclusion on the Board and this should be clearly stated in the revised Statutes. Term limits for the President and members of the Board are also to be decided.

3. The role of the General Secretariat: Emphasis was placed on the critical need for separation of powers between the Board of Directors and the General Secretariat and the need for staff expertise in the areas of Finance, Legal, Commercial and Technical. The General Secretary is the chief executive of the Secretariat and is required to provide operational leadership based on a clear Job Description and agreed to competencies, in carrying out the policies decided on by the Board of Directors. Expertise in audit and compliance was also highlighted as mandatory.

4. Standing Committees: The role and composition of Standing Committees and in particular the independent committees (Judicial; Disciplinary; Appeals; Audit and Compliance and Electoral) was also discussed.

FIFA will send revised statutes to the JFF in time for the organisation to do a review and to dispense information on the changes to its parish associations ahead of the JFF's Congress at the end of the year where the new statutes will be ratified.