IWF120y/17 – 2023: Approval of the first-ever IWF Strategic Plan

With the momentum created in 2022 with the election of a renovated IWF Executive Board and the subsequent structural reforms in the IWF Constitution, the creation of an IWF Strategic Plan was also deemed a necessity for our International Federation. A working group is created to co-ordinate the production of this document, namely by conducting an extensive consultation with all IWF stakeholders (including its National Member Federations). In September 2023, at the IWF Congress in Riyadh (KSA), this Plan is unanimously approved by the delegates. Covering the period 2024-2032, it comprises the four pillars sustaining all the IWF activities: Safeguarding the IWF Stars; Enhancing the IWF Events; Keeping the IWF Safe; and Reaching beyond the IWF. For each of these main points, several sub-pillars were created and more than 100 action points are to be implemented in the years to come. The Plan also highlights the IWF values, “condensed” in the word “Fortius” (Stronger), which is also part of the Olympic motto. For each of its letters, an important value – F for Fair-Play, O for Objective-driven, R for Responsibility, T for Transformation, I for Inclusion, U for Unity, and S for Sustainability. The IWF Strategic Plan also includes the vision of our organisation, as a guide to its action and future decisions: “A world where people of all ages and conditions live healthier, stronger and happier lives through the exciting, empowering and clean sport of weightlifting.”