More than 600 volunteers are part of the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022™. Out of these, 12 young Indians will go down as part of history because of an important responsibility that they have been assigned.

This group of individuals is working as safeguarding volunteers for the tournament, the first time a FIFA youth tournament has engaged people in this role to support the on-site Safeguarding competition team. This was made possible by the collaboration between the Volunteer Management team and the Safeguarding and Child Protection Department at FIFA. FIFA’s safeguarding programme is aimed at ensuring the safety of participants and fans from abuse, exploitation, and harassment and was first implemented at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Costa Rica 2022™. At the tournament, one FIFA safeguarding official was on duty for each of the 32 matches, along with a representative from Costa Rica’s National Children’s Institute.

In India, a group of young individuals was provided special training ahead of the tournament to support the work of the FIFA safeguarding officials. All volunteers partaking in the tournament participated in a Safeguarding Workshop that was organised by the LOC Safeguarding Manager Shreya Suri and FIFA. This workshop was delivered to volunteers during their General Training before the tournament.

The preparation of these safeguarding volunteers involved them completing Course 1 of the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sport Diploma, put in place by FIFA to increase awareness on safeguarding in football and sport in general. It was during the course that Soumya Prava Swain, a Safeguarding Volunteer at Bhubaneswar, first felt the pride of taking up this crucial responsibility. She recalled, “It was when I read the words ‘FIFA Guardians’ that I realised how important my responsibility is going to be at this tournament. I realised that I would need to be a 'guardian' to the young players participating in the tournament.”

While the training and workshops with the Safeguarding Officials prepared them well, they also developed their skills as the tournament progressed. Talking about her experience, one of Goa’s safeguarding volunteers, Yankama Bhovi, said, “While doing our work, we realized the importance of being keen listeners. You have to keep your eyes and ears open as a safeguarding volunteer all the time.” Ankit Kujur, a safeguarding volunteer from Bhubaneswar said, “When the excitement levels are high in the stadium, that’s when we have to be extra cautious and ensure nobody goes overboard.” The players of all the teams were given a presentation about Safeguarding during their Team Arrival Meetings. The presentation outlined their rights and responsibilities as players. To make it easier for them to report any untoward incident, they were also given a special sticker with a QR code. The players were also informed that they have the option of approaching the safeguarding volunteers, who are then expected to bring any incident to the notice of the safeguarding official.

Marie-Laure Lemineur, Head of Safeguarding and Child Protection, Social Responsibility and Education Division, who has led the team in Navi Mumbai shed more light on the initiative. “In line with Goal 10 of vision 2020-2023 of FIFA’s President, the Safeguarding and Child Protection department seeks to protect the wellbeing of players and of other roles within football both during competition and non-competition time. A comprehensive approach towards creating a safer environment within football has been adopted by FIFA since 2018 through the implementation of its FIFA Guardians programme", she said. Efforts at strengthening this programme will continue beyond India too. Looking ahead to the future, Acting Senior Event Safeguarding Manager, Lucy Cunningham, explained, "We will also implement a Safeguarding strategy at the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup Australia/ New Zealand 2023™. There are also plans for the continuation of our safeguarding operations for the FIFA youth competitions next year in Indonesia and in Peru."

The 12 volunteers in India believe that their learnings from this tournament will stay with them beyond this event. Aditya Hijam, who has taken up this responsibility in Navi Mumbai, said, “The ground rules of safeguarding apply everywhere and not just football. Even in our social interactions, people need to be protected from any sort of abuse and harassment.” Nishan Thakare, who is working with Hijam added, “I’ve seen there are multiple levels of the safeguarding course and after this tournament, I'm looking forward to taking the rest of them as well to learn more about the subject."