Child safeguarding a priority for East Africa Cup

The East Africa Cup (EAC), a sport tournament annually organised by an alliance or coordinating body of four core sport organizations including MYSA, KRIK, NPA and CHRISC, has taken on the challenge of ensuring that the EAC has a safe and protective environment for its participants.

The EAC alliance, as a responsible and dedicated group, has initiated a phased strategy starting in 2013 to extend their efforts to safeguarding all participants not only during the EAC but prior and post the event.

Child safeguarding training for all
To make the EAC enviroment safe for the children, all people who will have direct and/or indirect contact with children this year will be trained on child safeguarding. The workshop began on 30 May where the members of the organising committee were trained.

The rest of the people who will have direct and indirect contact with the children in this years East Africa Cup will be trained as follows:

• 23 June - the training will be targeting Ultimate Security personnel, East Africa Cup secretariat and caterers
• Each competing team is required to have two adult leaders, one of the two leaders will be arriving on 23 June in Moshi for a Save the Children workshop to held on 24 June
• 25 June - referees, field managers, peer educators, and media trainees will be trained
• 26 June - first day of sports activities and all team coaches being trained
• Evening of 26 June - the culture group will be preforming a short play that will be showcased to all participants about children safety in a sports gathering, there will also be a short presentation to all children on the same evening
• Evening of 27 June - presentation of a short film on the theme of child protection, produced as a project during the EAC by the filming and animation trainees at Moshi Technical Secondary School
• 28 June - at the policy level, Save the Children Tanzania will run a session for organisation representatives in Moshi on how to develop a child protection policy

East Africa Cup 2013 will set the ball rolling for sports organisations to put the safety of children in the right perspective.

[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]