Volunteer Zambia

Background

Each summer the 7 universities of the Wallace Group collaborate to send students and staff members to Lusaka 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. Through sharing knowledge and working collaboratively with Zambian volunteers, our students are able to contribute to Sport in Action’s aim of providing more leadership opportunities to young people within communities, but equally our students can learn new coaching tips and life skills from their Zambian counterparts. 

Please note, although coaching is involved from time to time, the primary focus of this programme is not coaching children and instead is to support with coach education.

Role Descriptions

• Recruitment

  Each university recruits 4-6 students to undertake the voluntary role of ‘Student Development Officer’ in one of the following areas:

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

  Recruitment and selection takes place from early summer – October and involves a written application, interview, and practical coaching session demonstration. 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 alongside their application.

• 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  qualification in one of the key sports
  • Emergency First Aid Certificate
  • Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport Certificate
  • Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG)

  Your application will still be considered if you do not have the above qualifications yet. Saints Sport will provide support to successful applicants.

  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 practices 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 an individual fundraising targets to cover the cost of accommodation, flights, inoculations, visas, a 3-day Zambia induction training course, in country training and airport transfers (£2500 per volunteer). The programme lead, travelling staff member and previous year students are on hand to support students through this!

• How to apply

  If you would like to apply for either a Student Development Officer Role or the Media, Marketing and Communications Role please click the buttons below. Once you have finished your application, please email it to Sports Development Officer Nina Revell.

  Please note, Media, marketing and communication officer applications will also have to submit a portfolio.

  Student Sport Development Officer Application
  Media, Marketing and Communication Application

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.

Group 1 will depart the UK in early June and Group 2 towards the end of July, please note that exact travel dates will be confirmed in due course:

2026 Dates (TBC):

Group 1 – 31st May to 26th July 2026
Group 2 – 26th July to 20th September 2026

*successful applicants must attend the Volunteer Zambia induction which will be held 3rd – 5th April 2026 (TBC).