BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), in collaboration with UNICEF, will tomorrow (Apr. 25) host the first of two Child Protection Workshops in St. Kitts.
The Child Protection Workshop is one of three prerequisites set out by the WICB for entry to the revamped coaching education programme (Foundation Level & Course for Level 1 & 2 Coaching).
The three prerequisites are Child Protection Certificate (Fair Play Initiative), First Aid Certificate and Police Report/Clearance.
Leeward Islands Territorial Development Officer Junie Mitcham explained that the West Indies Cricket Board is in the process of revamping its coaching education programme, as it seeks to standardise and meet current international coaching benchmarks in order to strengthen developmental, amateur and professional cricket across the region.
Mitcham further explained that coaches today have to be equipped with more than just the technical skill sets.
He noted that the WICB and UNICEF have developed the Fair Play Initiative (Child Protection in Youth Cricket Programmes) to equip coaches with the prerequisite knowledge to guide children placed in their care so that their cricket sessions and programmes could be fun and safe for all boys and girls.
The Fair Play Initiative is guided by the international standards and policies outlined in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is observed in over 200 countries.
Mitcham indicated that a similar workshop will be held in Nevis on May 9, 2014 and both workshops would be facilitated by Child Probation Officer in the St. Kitts Department of Probation and Child Protection Services, Glentine Wattley.
The first of the two workshops to be held in St. Kitts will be geared towards training coaches who are involved in the WICB Grassroots and Scotia Bank Kiddy Cricket Programmes, the Physical Education teachers within both government and private primary schools and cricket coaches in the Department of Sports.
