I’m Catriona San, a student at the University of Bath currently undertaking a three-and-a-half-month placement at GCP. This summer I am going to Zambia to site manage the construction of sports facilities as part of the ACE2Zambia construction team. GCP have been kind enough to sponsor me for this project, this is a great partnership as GCP endeavor to make similar change as the ACE2Zambia team.
The ACE2Zambia team are working with Sport in Action and Volunteer Zambia as part of the Wallace Group. The Wallace group is a group of 7 universities that share a commitment to developing sport in Zambia through the Volunteer Zambia project. Each year the universities send 50-60 students and staff to Zambia to support Sport in Action and other Zambian partners to enhance communities through the development of sport and leadership. The University of Bath were part of this project until 2017 when we sent a construction team instead. 2022 is the fourth year of ACE2Zambia where we work parallel to the sports students in the construction of a new sports facilities.
‘Sport In Action is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) whose purpose is to improve people’s quality of life through sport and recreational activities.’ They use sport as a way to bring people together and break social barriers to educate people about important issues such as HIV and Aids, Gender-based violence and substance abuse. The Wallace group work closely with Sport in Action to develop the skills of the local communities to allow them to continue to use sport as an integral path to education and healthy lifestyles.
The ACE2Zambia team have a unique role to play in this joint objective. We create new facilities to bring this important mission to new areas as well as renovating existing facilities to ensure they are safe and prolong their lifetime. This year our main project will be the development of a Netball Court in a Community called Matero the court will be built at Chitanda School. This community is already home to a netball hub that is home to over 300 participants.
GCP have kindly sponsored me for this project. GCP and the ACE2Zambia team share similar values of sustainability, and both see the importance of sport for the development of sustainable communities. The sponsorship has encouraged me to explore the similarities and differences
