12 Aug 2018

As Botswana prepares to host the 8^th edition of the Africa Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 under 20 Youth Games, all eyes are on the Sports Volunteer Movement (SVM) to see if it will once again deliver smooth Games.

Having successfully delivered the 2^nd African Youth Games in 2014 and the Netball World Youth Cup Gaborone 2017, SVM will once again be tried when 10 countries descend on Gaborone in December.

SVM secretary, Tsholofelo Gaotswake said an interview that they were cognisant of the fact that the Games were solely on their shoulders as volunteers.

“You see, in December, the local organising committee would have wrapped up all that needed to be done, the rest will be in the hands of volunteers, hence we do not take this assignment lightly. If we fail, the country would have failed, therefore it is important that we ace the event,” she said.

She said SVM was preparing well for the event and they will need at least 674 volunteers, to be supervised by 22 team leaders.

Furthermore, she said they would also need 20 international volunteers with four Portuguese speaking ones, adding that each team would also be allocated one liaison officer.

According to Gaotswake, international volunteers would be recommended by their countries but it was a requisite that they be security cleared.

She said they would spread the volunteers to different areas, such as protocol, marketing, security and catering amongst others.

Gaotswake said  for one to be eligible to volunteer during the Region 5 Youth Games, Gaborone 2018, they should be members of the SVM.

“Those who are not members can still go to the SVM website and register, because we will only engage those who are our members for easy supervision,” she said. She said volunteer will undergo induction in October and they would also go through the code of conduct and sign terms of commitment, emotional intelligence and effective communication.

Gaotswake said they would also be training on safe sport, which would touch on sexual harassment and different forms of abuse. Ends