FAQs

We expect volunteers to commit to and fulfill a full twelve month placement, typically beginning in early August and ending in late July.

We recommend that volunteers make available approximately $10,000 to support themselves for a full year in Africa. Some volunteers have gotten by with less; some have spent more, as costs depend on life style. Volunteers are expected to cover all personal transportation costs to and from Africa, as well as their own living expenses—including visa, food, non-work related local transportation, every day necessities, insurance, entertainment and incidental expenses.

In the past, volunteers have raised funds through grants from their colleges and universities, letter writing campaigns, fund raising events, on-line fund raising and a number of other methods. Upon your acceptance of a GRS volunteer placement offer, GRS will provide information to you to assist with fund raising.

No. Volunteers will all be deployed to Cape Town, South Africa and each will be assigned a specific role to fulfill. Placements to jobs will be made based on GRS’s needs and the volunteers’ skill and interests. An example of the departments into which a volunteer may be placed and descriptions of the work within each department are listed below. Individual placement interviews will be held once the entire volunteer class has been recruited. Volunteers will know their initial job by early June.

Job responsibilities in various departments are listed here.

No. Effective HIV prevention programs must be locally driven. While Programs volunteers assist with all aspects of program management, kids respond better to local role models who speak their language, share their culture and truly understand their reality.  For the most part, none of the GRS expatriate staff are involved in directly teaching kids.  Nearly all of the teaching is carried out by local African staff and volunteers. Since students’ English language skills often vary widely across program sites, the curriculum is typically taught in a combination of English and local languages. It would be both ineffective and culturally inappropriate to have expatriates involved in the direct implementation of the curriculum.

This depends largely on the position to which you are assigned as a GRS volunteer.  Programs volunteers will spend a portion of time in the “field,” interacting with both GRS facilitators as well as with participating youth. Program volunteers will be required to conduct site visits to evaluate the programs being delivered by GRS staff and coaches. Programs volunteers may also assist in the implementation of events and testing tournaments, in which they work closely with local African staff as well as with kids. Volunteers in the other departments typically have more office responsibilities, though all volunteers have the opportunity to visit programs and to interact with local staff as well as with kids, and all are called upon to assist with VCT (Voluntary Testing & Counseling) tournaments.

Yes. Placements for the 2016-2017 year will be based in Cape Town, South Africa. The programs volunteer will routinely travel to the program site in Khayelitsha and may on occasion travel to other sites within southern Africa.

While volunteers may indicate their preferences for job responsibilities, GRS makes assignments based first on its program needs as well as on each volunteer’s skill-set. Generally, current and past volunteers have been satisfied with their job responsibilities.

Educational material will be distributed pre-departure to Africa and will provide general information about living and working in South Africa, GRS’s policies & procedures as well as an introduction to GRS culture, safety and programs. Upon arrival in Cape Town, all incoming volunteers will be required to attend an orientation that will provide an opportunity for the volunteers to connect and to receive site-specific introductory training. This will be followed up by individual job training facilitated by direct supervisors.

Grassroot Soccer will assist all volunteers to find housing which will allow them to live together in apartments or houses in safe neighborhoods.

Volunteers must be covered by both emergency accident/illness medical insurance and emergency evacuation insurance for the full duration of their terms of service in Africa.  Volunteers must show proof of such insurance—either from their parents’ policies or policies of their own—prior to departure to Africa. Grassroot Soccer does not provide this insurance. Please contact your personal insurance agent or travel insurance provider to find a policy which will provide both medical and evacuation coverage.

Quite possibly. Though it is impossible to make guarantees, several current full-time staff members began their Grassroot Soccer careers as unpaid volunteers. Jobs will be offered to interested volunteers depending on the organization’s needs at the time and your skills/qualifications as a potential employee.

While most volunteers do not play professional soccer in Africa, if you are interested in doing so, there may be an opportunity. Please let us know as soon as you start the application process that you are interested in playing for a professional team in Africa so that we may make sure it is a good fit for us, for the soccer club and for you. Building connections to local players and teams adds a great deal of value to our work.

Yes! Whether it is in a weekly staff game, a pickup game or, as part of a local futsal team, you will have ample opportunity to play soccer during your year in Africa.