Elemon Sakala & Kristien Kloosterman-Sakala

Elemon Sakala

Elemon Sakala Jr is a Zambian scholar who is currently a PhD candidate and doubles as a sports chaplain for various sports teams, including the Zambia National Soccer Teams, as a provider of holistic pastoral and spiritual care, mentorship, discipling, counselling, coaching, safeguarding and other chaplaincy related services for the wellbeing of all involved in sports. Elemon is the pioneer of sports chaplaincy in Africa (since 1995) and has pioneered and conducted groundbreaking research in this field of sports chaplaincy. 

He holds a Master of Arts in Theology and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He has also studied International Relations, Radio Journalism and Reporting, FIFA Safeguarding, as well as over fifty (50) other professional certificates in diverse fields. 

Elemon is an experienced leader, coach, and a culturally intelligent international speaker with a passion in academics, research, international relations and for the sports industry. He still enjoys playing competitive football in the fifth-tier league. 

In 2010, Elemon founded Victorious LIFE (Zambia), an organisation that provides chaplaincy services to the Zambian sports industry. 

The impact of his work includes the famous “”Favour”” sign with Nkana FC, which was introduced in 2013 and has remained to date, including at various national soccer teams. He is also behind the most famous “”Bola Na Lesa”” (Football with God), which was introduced in 2016 with the then national under twenty (U20) boys team. His contribution to the development of sports in Zambia is unrivalled in every respect.

Kristien Kloosterman-Sakala

Kristien Kloosterman-Sakala originates from the Netherlands where she worked as a nurse in community based health care. She is married to Elemon Sakala from Zambia, where they are based. 

Since 2003 she has been involved in sports ministry through organizations like Athletes in Action and Victorious LIFE, serving at projects in countries such as Greece, Romania, Albania, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. In 2009 she worked as an Short Term International for 2 years in South Africa, organizing sports projects during and after the Soccer World Cup of 2010. Furthermore, she worked on establishing local based sports projects and initiatives and helped develop local leadership. In 2012 she joined her husband in Zambia to develop the work of Victorious LIFE and helped with training of sport leaders, developing sport academies and developing sports chaplaincy. Furthermore she has been serving as a research assistant in research concerning sports chaplaincy. Her research interests span across different sectors such as International Health, Sports Chaplaincy, Health in Sports, Africa Studies  among others.

ABSTRACT:

“Equal Pay for Equal Work – Contextualizing Financial Incentives and Disparities for Zambian Women Athletes.”

Elemon Sakala and Kristien Kloosterman-Sakala

The role of human resource management (HRM) in designing jobs and their financial packages is especially critical in every industry and organization. One approach over the years, has been advocating for and ensuring that the gender bias in regards to payments for equal jobs is completely eliminated. Despite it being extrinsic in nature, this approach is believed to have greatly motivated deserving women who have taken up jobs which were previously male dominated. The sports industry is not separate from the rest of the world and has experienced great financial disparities between the male and female football players, hence, the need to upwardly adjust the financial packages offered to the women in sports. The amount of time and effort invested in professional football does not vary between the male and female players (with respect to other sexes). Therefore, it is incumbent on the HRM departments in the sports industry to critically examine their roles and how they have negatively affected and/or failed the women athletes in this regard. This research examined the current variances in the footballers’ salaries in professional football and its effects on the Zambian women footballers in general. The paper further explores the existing gaps, as well as proposing the recommended interventions that could help to solve this human resource problem in Zambia, Africa and beyond. HRM challenges should be solved using HRM solutions and strategies.