Volunteer Zambia

Background

The aim of the project is to support Sport in Action to upskill and educate coaches, this empowers local coaches and volunteers to deliver quality and sustainable sessions across Lusaka.

Each summer the 7 universities of the Wallace Group collaborate to send students and staff members out to Zambia for 8 weeks, from the period of June-October. Working with Sport in Action, the student and staff volunteers collaborate with the in-country Zambian colleagues to deliver embedded and sustainable opportunities for young people across Zambia, particularly women and girls. Students will support Sport in Action to deliver a series of accredited coaching workshops, that are recognised by Zambian governing bodies of sport.

The focus is sport development. This includes, increasing capacity, supporting the development talent pathways, and developing coaching and facilitation practices in the key sports of, netball, basketball & women’s football.  This is done by working collaboratively with Zambian colleagues. The emphasis is on the above-mentioned areas so that with better sport facilitation, more coherent pathways and higher capacity, more vulnerable individuals will have the ability to access life changing interventions through Sport in Action

Role Description

• Recruitment

  Each university recruits 5 students to undertake the voluntary role of ‘Student Sport Development Officer’ in one of the following areas:

  • Netball
  • Basketball
  • Woman’s Football
  • Media, Marketing and Communications Officer (MMC)

  Recruitment and selection takes place in September and involves a written application, interview, and practical coaching session demonstration, where applicable. Students must be a proficient coach or an experienced player in one of the key sports. MMC applicants will be required to create and submit a portfolio.

• Training and qualifications

  All volunteer coaches are required to have achieved at least the following level of qualifications in order to take part in the project:

  • UKCC Level 1/SFA 1.2 qualification in one of the key sports
  • Emergency First Aid Certificate
  • Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport Certificate
  • Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG)

  Saints Sport deliver and subsidise a comprehensive training and education programme that supports those wishing to gain additional qualifications, providing access to external expert-led coaching alongside our own in-house training programmes. We encourage students to take the next level of qualification when they are ready and course fees are heavily subsidised.

  Volunteering

  Successful applicants will be given the opportunity to volunteer within the Junior Saints programme or in a junior club or school club setting prior to Zambia. This will allow you to build on coaching skills, work alongside other coaches to recognise best practice and to share coaching feedback, as well as develop many useful skills, for example, leadership, organising, confidence and communication.

• What to expect

  Join a growing international community and help coordinate sports development practises across Lusaka, Zambia. Work alongside the largest Sports NGO in Zambia and an ever-growing number of industry leaders between Africa and the UK.

  What will the project involve?

  • 8 weeks in Zambia
  • Sports development
  • Coach education workshops
  • Sharing coaching knowledge and experience with Zambian partners
  • Fundraising campaigns
  • Teamwork
  • Developing leadership skills
  • Forming new friendships

• Cost/fundraising

  St Andrews volunteers spend the year prior to leaving for Zambia planning, preparing and fundraising for the trip.

  Students are set collective and individual fundraising targets to cover the cost of accommodation, flights, inoculations, a 3-day Zambia induction training course, in country training and airport transfers (~£2000 per volunteer).

Dates

Student volunteers from across the Wallace Group team up and are split into two groups, with each group spending 8 weeks on placement at the various hub-sites around the capital from June-October.

Students from St Andrews will travel in group 1:

4th June – 30th July