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Launch of WADA education initiative with Olympafrica

2012-08-24 14:52 WADA

August 22, 2012 - WADA and the Fondation Internationale Olympafrica will launch the first activity of their education partnership later this week by holding a training workshop for staff from five Olympafrica Centers during the Samsung Regional Youth Games in Lusaka, Zambia.

WADA Regional Director for Africa, Mr. Rodney Swigelaar, and Education Manager Jennifer Sclater from the WADA head office in Montreal, will run the workshop from Aug. 23-25 with a view to improving the anti-doping knowledge of the Centers’ staff and to introduce WADA’s range of educational tools.

Olympafrica is an organization set up in 1990 to promote the ideals of the Olympic Movement across the Africa continent. It has 19 Centers already operating across the region and a further 14 under construction.

The workshop will allow WADA and Olympafrica to make a first assessment of the overall anti-doping needs of the Olympafrica Centers and develop a suitable approach for implementing a formalized strategy for the future.

Two hundred young athletes will be in Lusaka for the Regional Youth Games (Aug. 23-27), and the first workshop will focus on the education and delivery of messages to this age group as well as to their coaches and teachers.

“This will be the first workshop in the partnership between WADA and Olympafrica and we very much look forward to working with the Centers’ staff and developing a program for the future,” said Mr. Swigelaar, who signed the agreement with Olympafrica during last year’s All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.

“We will be giving an in-depth explanation of the tools that WADA has developed for anti-doping education, and assisting them as they look to then engage those using the Olympafrica facilities.

“Our aim is to develop a sustainable anti-doping education plan that ensures that the right messages are delivered to the relevant target groups throughout the Olympafrica regions. It is a great opportunity and one we are very excited about.”

Attending the first workshop will be staff from the Olympafrica Centers in Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

In addition to the workshop with staff and athletes, WADA and Olympafrica will also have formal discussions to assess their first collaboration and the way forward.

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