Management Tools

Guides

The Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) department on every installation is a park and recreation agency.  MWR, called military recreation for accreditation purposes, is concerned with the efficiency, effectiveness, and professionalism of its operations.  Therefore, military recreation self-assessment and peer review is an excellent process for evaluating the quality of the system, which delivers programs and activities. It is to this end, as a tool for self-assessment, that standards were developed.

The "Self-Assessment Manual for Quality Operation of Military Recreation," sets forth the standards from the "Self-Assessment Manual for Quality Operation of Park and Recreation Agencies," a guide to standards for national accreditation by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA).  The standards are presented in ten categories that detail 156 standards.  For some CAPRA standards, a DoD Comment is provided for clarification.  In addition, the previously approved "military version" of CAPRA standards removed standards that did not pertain to Military recreation and are noted in the DoD Comment (3.6.2; 5.3.5; 5.4.2.2; 7.1; 7.3; 7.4; and 9.7).  You are not required to meet those seven standards.

Military recreation accredited by these standards demonstrate not only that they meet the standards for a quality operation but also that they have professional competence and commitment and the military community support to complete the rigorous process of accreditation.