Washington DC — The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee in South Africa is calling for volunteers from across Africa and the world to help with the soccer spectacular next year. Danny Jordaan, the committee's chief executive officer, writes that volunteers from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Kenya are among the hundreds who have already applied to work at the tournament.
The true measure of volunteerism is when people sacrifice time, energy, money and other pleasures in order to tend to the needs of others. The satisfaction of making others happy is their reward.
It is most gratifying to note that the spirit of volunteerism was a major contributory factor in the success of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
It is the same spirit we require as our country embarks on another exciting chapter at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in June next year – the first one ever on African soil.
As the World Cup approaches our friends from all over the continent have already starting heeding our call for assistance in making this the best World Cup ever.
Volunteers from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Kenya are among the hundreds from Africa who have already applied to work on the tournament.
Volunteerism provides a steady and continuous flow of personnel with a variety of skills capable of making significant contribution to society at large.
Indeed, volunteers are a special breed of human beings. They come from all walks of life with a common purpose. Some are professional people – doctors, teachers, accountants – many are students and others are unemployed.
All are united in their unselfish willingness to make a difference by offering their services to work in whatever capacity is required without expectation of remuneration.
South Africa has developed a rich culture of volunteerism around the global events already staged in this country – and foreign visitors to these shores have not failed to notice them.
The World Cup will provide the opportunity for fans from different parts of the world to develop similar sentiments about our neighbours.
My own experience of the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, and the positive contribution of the volunteer brigade, remains fresh in my mind. Also, many visitors and myself, singled out the friendly help they received from the volunteers as the highlight of their experience.
After the successful 2009 Confederations Cup volunteers programme, which saw close to 40 000 South Africans applying for the 4 000 volunteer positions and providing invaluable support during the tournament itself, planning for the 2010 World Cup volunteer programme is already in full swing.
Africans have the chance now to put up their hands – this time for the biggest sports event yet staged on the African continent. Recruitment for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Volunteer Programme is underway. We have begun the process of recruiting the 15 000 volunteers required for the tournament.
Unlike the Confederations Cup programme, the World Cup volunteer programme is a global initiative – 80 percent of volunteers will come from South Africa, 10 per cent from Africa and 10 per cent from the rest of the world. Anyone who is 18 or older on 1 March 2010 and with a good command of the English language can apply to be a volunteer.
The application form is available on FIFA.com at www.FIFA.com/volunteers2010.
Anyone requiring further information about the volunteer programme can contact the volunteer hotline on 0800 52 52 52 (toll free in South Africa) or email volunteerprogramme@2010oc.com.
The application period will run from 20 July until 31 August 2009 after which the application form will be taken off FIFA.com. The Organising Committee's Volunteer department will then begin the process of sorting through the applications.
Once the applications have all been processed, the OC Volunteer department will conduct interviews with the approved applicants in January and February 2010. The successful volunteers chosen from this interview process will then be taken through extensive training in March and April 2010 in all nine of the World Cup host cities.
As is the nature of volunteer programmes around the world, the volunteers for the World Cup will not be paid a salary for their work. They will, however, be given a stipend on the day's they are operational to cover their expenses.
A wide variety of work will be available to volunteers to cater for a great diversity of skills. Volunteers will be asked during the application process to select the functional area that they feel best suits their skills set and every effort will be made to accommodate them.
There are 16 areas where volunteers will be used during 2010 World Cup. These are in the areas of accreditation, administration, environmental services, welcome and information services, information technology and telecommunication, language support, legal work in the rights protection programme, logistics services, marketing, media, protocol services, spectator services, ticketing, transportation, hospitality and ushering services and volunteer management.
The work on offer will provide volunteers with a great deal of specialized experience. Environmental Services volunteers, for instance, will be responsible for raising environmental awareness to spectators.
They will be expected to have an interest in environmental management and be able to inform spectators of the environmental management initiatives in the stadium precinct, and they will oversee the implementation of the Environmental (Green Goal) Programme.
Administration volunteers will have a unique opportunity to get insight on how operational plans are executed to deliver the event in the city, and will be in close interaction with all the different sectors involved in the delivery of the World Cup. These volunteers will assist with administrative support and secretarial duties, as well as assisting the volunteer coordinators.
Language support volunteers will need a good command of English as well as either French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and other languages. One of the main tasks of volunteers in the legal department, where preference will be given to law and marketing students studying in this field, will be to form part of the rights protection programme team that will look after the rights of the tournament's commercial affiliates, broadcasters and organisers.
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Protocol services volunteers will play a vital role in interfacing with designated dignitaries to ensure that the correct etiquette and support is provided. Services to a dignitary include but are not limited to: reception at the airport or port of entry, reciprocal exchange of gifts, form of address, treatment with etiquette, allocation of ground transport, movement during and between events, seating at events and provision of refreshments.
A Protocol Volunteer is expected to be proud to be part of this historic occasion in order for him/her to be able to uphold its image by providing the local and international guests with the best protocol service. Their ability to speak English or any other foreign language such as French or Spanish, as well as their insight on hospitality and protocol will be an added advantage to making the guests feel welcome.
The Protocol team will look to them to assist with welcoming, ushering and making the guests feel welcome in the country from their arrival until they depart. It is an area of work that sums up the entire Volunteer Programme – making guests feel welcome from arrival to departure.
Everyone, from the youth to retirees, can, in one way or other, contribute to the common good, through the true spirit of volunteerism. This social responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of every citizen. It is also an opportunity to work with, network and serve people from all over the world and create lasting friendships.
Dr Danny Jordaan is the CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa. For more information, see the FIFA website.
