Football Association of Malawi Technical Director Benjamin Kumwenda and Regional Technical Development Officer for the North Robert Mzinza are in England for a five day Course on FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sports.
This is a programme which FIFA, in collaboration with Open University of United Kingdom, launched in 2019 to help and support member associations and confederations in strengthening child and vulnerable adult safeguarding measures across football.
The World football governing body wants to stop football stakeholders such as players, coaches, officials, staff and volunteers from being subjected to or engage in abusive behavior.
Kumwenda and Mzinza
“The Course focuses on safeguarding vulnerable groups like children, women and elderly in sport. This is because FIFA wants football to be played in a safe environment which is free from physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect, trafficking and exploitation.
“We are learning how to protect these vulnerable groups from harm or abuse through appropriate prevention and response measures and promoting their wellbeing because most of them especially athletes give up when exposed to abuses.
“When we return home we will provide awareness to stakeholders about the well being of our athletes in sports. We will come up with a code of conduct for all our camps to prevent any form of abuse and help in establishing appropriate systems to address and respond to such issues”, said Kumwenda.
The participants will on Friday graduate with Diploma in Safeguarding in Sport from the Open University of UK.
