Members of the Philippine Rowing Association, led by president Patrick Gregorio, in an online seminar regarding ISO certification. (PRA Image)
The Philippine Rowing Association (PRA), as the national governing body for the sport , is gearing towards excellence, professionalism and transparency through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Quality Management System 9001:2015 certification.
As part of the ISO certification process, the PRA has conducted an ISO Quality Management System 9001:2015 Online Seminar on August 10 from 2 pm to 4 pm.
Francisco Arellano and Rowena Tiamzon Soria, as ISO consultants of PRA, facilitated the online seminar. Together with the PRA officials headed by rowing president Patrick C. Gregorio, the event had a total of 19 attendees, including secretary-general Jercyl Lerin, and deputy secretary-general/treasurer Benedicto Membrere III.
Despite the challenges the association is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the leadership of Gregorio has been able to pursue the commitment of high-quality management and continuous improvement of the PRA as a sports organization.
With the help of the ISO consultants, PRA was able to undergo the tedious process of ISO certification since the new set of PRA’s leaders was elected last January 2020.
To further enhance the PRA’s core processes, especially for our athletes, coaches, and stakeholders, all members of the PRA are devoted to the ISO certification of the whole PRA organization.
The primary objective is to instill a Quality Management System (QMS) to the core processes of the PRA. The establishment of a management system based on international standards will, in effect, improve the overall performance of the organization.
Hopefully, by the end of September this year, the PRA will get its ISO 9001:2015 certification. Through this, PRA envisions to build a quality culture that characterizes client-driven organization and to strengthen the global competitiveness of PRA.
As the first National Sports Association (NSA) to undergo ISO certification, Gregorio hopes that this will be the first step for a quality management system to be adopted by many other sports organizations in the country.