Across South Africa and the wider continent, most sports organisations can point to a safeguarding policy. Far fewer can show that the policy is being effectively implemented. This is not a unique problem, major safeguarding reviews in international sport have repeatedly found the same pattern — policies, codes of conduct, and training programmes exist on paper, but organisations cannot demonstrate they are implemented, monitored, or owned by anyone in particular.

Three challenges show up again and again:

• A limited understanding of what safeguarding in sport actually covers
• Competing priorities and limited resources that push safeguarding down the list;
• and a common misconception that safeguarding is mainly about responding to high-profile cases of sexual or physical abuse.

In reality, the evidence points elsewhere — the greatest volume of harm to children in sport happens quietly, at club level, through poor everyday practice: inappropriate coaching behaviour, unchecked conduct from parents and spectators, and a lack of clear channels for children to raise concerns before harm escalates.

This course was developed to close that gap between policy and practice. It does not ask participants to write another policy document. It asks them to build the practical capability — the audits, implementation plans, risk assessments, and communication and training strategies — that turn an existing policy into something a child, parent, coach, or volunteer experiences at their club, every week.

This course equips those responsible for safeguarding in sporting organisations with the practical knowledge, tools, and confidence to build, implement, and sustain effective safeguarding systems.

Grounded in the International Safeguards for Children in Sport and drawing on frameworks used across South Africa, Africa, and internationally, the course moves beyond theory into practice. Participants will audit their own organisation's safeguarding maturity, build a real implementation plan, conduct an event risk assessment, and design communication, training, and resource mobilisation strategies — producing a set of practical tools they can put to immediate use.

Delivered through online learning materials (videos and readings), weekly synchronous sessions, and blended in-person elements, the course combines structured content with facilitated discussion and peer learning.

This course is designed for:

• Safeguarding leads (persons in organisations tasked with leading implementation of Safeguarding).
• Safeguarding officers;
• Coaches and team officials with child protection responsibilities;
• Volunteers and programme staff working directly with children and vulnerable adults in sport.

No prior safeguarding qualification is required. Participants should ideally be currently affiliated with, or closely involved in, a sporting organisation, as each module builds directly on real organisational practice.

This is the pilot delivery of Managing Safeguarding in Sport. The materials, structure, and assignments are being tested for the first time with this cohort before the course is finalised for wider rollout.

As a pilot participant, you will not pay to take part. In exchange, you will be asked to provide structured feedback on the course — on the content, materials, assignments, and overall learning experience — at set points during and at the end of the course. Further detail on the feedback process will be shared with participants before the course begins.

The course is structured across six modules, each building on the last:

1. Understanding Safeguarding in Sport — safeguarding principles, forms of abuse and harm, and their impact on individuals, teams, and the wider sporting environment.
2. Creating a Safe Environment in Sport — the safeguarding landscape in South Africa, Africa, and beyond, and a structured audit of your own organisation's safeguarding practices against the International Safeguards.
3. Developing a Safeguarding Implementation Plan — translating audit findings into a prioritised, SMART-objective action plan with clear responsibilities and timelines.
4. Managing Safeguarding Concerns — the roles of safeguarding officers and leads, organisational policy and procedure, and how to conduct a safeguarding risk assessment for a real event.
5. Operationalising Safeguarding and Sustaining a Culture of Safeguarding — embedding safeguarding into everyday systems, safe recruitment, and building a communications and training plan.
6. Mobilising Resources and Building Support — stakeholder engagement, partnerships, and low-cost strategies to sustain safeguarding initiatives.

Each module includes short video lectures, curated readings, a quiz, and a weekly synchronous session for facilitated discussion and peer exchange.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define key safeguarding concepts and identify different forms of abuse and harm in sport, and explain their impact.
• Conduct a structured safeguarding audit of a sporting organisation using the International Safeguards for Children in Sport.
• Develop a practical, prioritised safeguarding implementation plan with SMART objectives, timelines, and assigned responsibilities.
• Describe the responsibilities of safeguarding officers and leads, and conduct a safeguarding risk assessment for a sporting event.
• Design strategies to embed safeguarding into organisational culture, including communication and training plans.
• Develop a resource mobilisation and partnership-building plan to sustain safeguarding initiatives.

Participants complete a quiz at the end of each module, alongside a series of practical assignments — including a safeguarding audit, an implementation plan, and an event risk assessment — that together build into a complete, organisation-specific safeguarding toolkit.

Upon successful completion, participants will receive a digital Certificate of Completion issued by the University.

The course fee is R12,500. However, the pilot cohort is free of charge, in exchange for structured participant feedback (see 'Pilot course' above). The cost includes full access to course materials, weekly synchronous sessions, and certification. Institutional and group enrolment options may be available.

Registration steps for the pilot course:

1. Go to the UCT Learning Store (Management Studies) and find the Managing Safeguarding in Sport course listing.
2. Click View Course Details.
3. Scroll down to the Registration section.
4. Click either Register online or Register with School of Management Studies — either option will take you to the short application form.
5. Complete and submit the form before applications close on Monday, 24 August 2026.
6. Once you receive notification of acceptance from us, we will provide you with further details on how to enrol on the course.