Abstract
Volunteerism and volunteers associated with the sport for development sector in a first world context is vastly different from volunteerism and volunteers in the context of a developing country. The study aims to establish factors that influence the employability potential and possible career advancement of volunteers in a non-governmental organisation (NGO),that offers SDP programmes. The study was conducted with NGOs in three southern African countries, namely South Africa, Namibia and Zambia. The theory of change developed by Coalter (2019) and social cognitive theory underpin the discourse and issues related to volunteerism in the sport for development (SDP) domain. The NGO’s will serve as a case study addressing the training methods, the mentoring programmes and the phenomena of volunteers’ having a better chance of finding employment after their stint as a volunteer. The research culminated in a purposive sample of the employment trajectories of 12 volunteers, six male and six female, who have volunteered at an NGO within the past seven years. The sample consisted of one man and one woman who participated in programmes run by the three countries, who subsequently found employment in or outside the SDP sector. Two rounds of semi-structured Skype interviews were conducted with the 12 volunteers. The researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with three NGO managerial staff members from each of the respective countries. Data was also obtained from 38 volunteers who participated in an open-ended questionnaire.The findings will inform evidence-based decision-making for similar NGOs. This will substantiate their claims of making inroads in human empowerment related to the employability profiles of volunteers.
M.Phil. (Sport Management)