Youth Volunteer - Football Coaching

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Job Description

The Role

Join our Football for Development Programme in Sierra Leone and support a project that delivers community engagement and development through sports. We are looking for proactive individuals with good football skills (playing or coaching), to assist a primary school team and help organise the Street Child interschool football tournament for some of the most marginalised children in the world. This is no ordinary Gap Year programme - you will be adding capacity to a leading development NGO that values professionalism and sustainability above all else.

Dates: 4 weeks March-May 2018

Football in Sierra Leone

Football mania shines throughout Sierra Leone, especially among the children. All you need is a ball and you’ve got a game! Into the mix, we are throwing a coach, a competition and a very energetic audience, and so that’s where you come in.

The passion is there, but without supporting resources these children find it difficult to progress in the sport. For many, it is a chance to escape their everyday lives and get down to the serious business of having fun.

This programme is designed to alleviate pressures of rural life for children in one of the poorest countries in the world - at the same time as giving them an opportunity to develop vital life skills through teamwork, discipline, dedication and healthy competition.

What will you get out of it?

Spending four weeks in Sierra Leone working closely with our local staff and their communities, this is an experience like no other. This is sure to push you out of your comfort zone and into the realm of exciting adventure.

You will grow in confidence as an individual and as a mentor with an understanding of the challenges that people in West Africa encounter everyday.

You will be learning first hand about the humanitarian sector through an immersive experience, and make a lasting contribution to an organisation that offers educational access to out of school children in West Africa and Asia.

Key Responsibilities:

• Providing football coaching for the girls’ and boys’ football teams at your allocated school

• Assisting in arranging logistics for a multi-school tournament

• Liaising with potential partners and sponsors

• Marketing the tournament across various online and offline platforms

• Contributing towards the long-term development of the Football for Development programme in Sierra Leone

Requirements:

We do not require any professional experience in football coaching - just demonstrable knowledge of the sport and the rules. What we do require is buckets of positivity and enthusiasm to work with a team of genuinely fantastic children.

So, come join us in Sierra Leone! Just make sure you’re open minded about the best team to support...

What does Street Child do?

Street Child's aim is to create educational opportunities for some of the world’s most vulnerable children. We began our work in 2008 in Sierra Leone working with a small number of street children, nine years later we have helped to transform the lives of more than 50,000 children across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nepal. In 2017 we launched our first project in Nigeria helping children impacted by conflict in the North East of the country.

We Yone Child Foundation is one of Street Child’s partner organisation based in Freetown, working to support the city’s most underprivileged children. With We Yone’s network of schools, and a team of dedicated social workers, We Yone has made great achievements to effectively provide access to education to out-of-school children. They also work within schools to educate children about the issues of child rights, child exploitation and gender equality.

Sierra Leone remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Our research indicates that there are around 50,000 children relying upon the streets of Sierra Leone for their survival. During the Ebola crisis, Street Child supported close to 18 500 orphans with humanitarian aid and rehoming support. By empowering children by giving them the chance to go to school - and giving their families the wherewithal to keep them there - Street Child is one of the most impactful charities working in the region today.

Terms:

The successful applicant must be prepared to live and work in austere conditions when required, and to travel independently to urban, rural and remote project sites. The applicant must be able to manage his or her work plan and report regularly to the team on progress, and will be considered a valued member of the team.

A fundraising commitment will be required of the successful applicant, for which support will be provided by Street Child UK staff. Flights and food are at the applicant’s own expense. Accommodation will be provided by Street Child at a fixed cost, and will require sharing rooms with another volunteer of any gender. A detailed breakdown of costs and expenses will be provided for those applicants selected for interview.