Child safety and safeguarding first
Every learning process is designed and delivered in line with the International Safeguards for Children in Sport.
About us
Sport, development and sustainability — in practice.
SpheMbhe works at the intersection of sport, social development and sustainability. We use sport, participatory learning, evidence and strategic partnerships to help organisations design better programmes, strengthen their people and systems, mobilise resources and achieve meaningful social and environmental outcomes.
Who we are
An independent South African consultancy for the sport and development sector.
SpheMbhe Sport and Development is an independent South African consultancy providing advisory, programme and project design, management support, training, and experiential and participatory learning services across the sport and development sector. Founded by a practitioner with over two decades of experience across community sport, school sport, higher education, provincial government and international development — including nine years leading Sport-for-Development and Youth Engagement programming at UNICEF South Africa — SpheMbhe supports clients from concept ideation and proposal development through strategic planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
Our story
Twenty years of practice, brought directly to the organisations that need it.
SpheMbhe Sport and Development was established in July 2026 to bring the founder’s depth of experience — spanning grassroots community sport, university sport administration, provincial government and international development — directly to organisations that want to use sport as a tool for social change. The founder began working in sport and recreation in 2004 and has since held sport administration and leadership roles at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation, the University of Limpopo, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, SportsTec International Development Agency, the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) and, most recently, as national programme lead of the sport-for-development and youth engagement programme at UNICEF South Africa, where programming reached millions of children and secured more than US$15 million in programme funding.
Our mission
To use sport, learning, evidence and partnerships to strengthen organisations and advance sport-for-development, youth development, safeguarding and environmental sustainability.
Our vision
A South Africa and African continent where sport and play are powerful forces for safe, inclusive, healthy, empowered and environmentally responsible organisations, supported by skilled and effective sport and development practitioners.
Core values
Participatory, evidence-informed practice
Design thinking, play-based learning and participatory methods are used to build programmes with organisations, not for them.
Partnership
Sustainable change is built through stakeholder mapping, partnership brokering and genuine collaboration across sectors.
Integrity and accountability
Transparent monitoring, evaluation and donor reporting underpin every engagement.
Why SpheMbhe
01
Practitioner-led
The founder, as principal consultant, has led the design and implementation of sport, recreation and sport-for-development interventions first-hand — from grassroots to international level — not just advised on it.
02
Specialist safeguarding offering
A dedicated safeguarding-in-sport practice aligned to the International Safeguards for Children in Sport and national frameworks — an area many general sport consultancies do not cover in depth.
03
Policy to field-level delivery
A track record of translating national policy and strategy into practical delivery, from national curricula and department-level advisory work down to district, school and club implementation.
04
SETA-certified facilitation
A certified facilitator and assessor, ensuring training and capacity-building work is quality-assured.
Experience & track record
SpheMbhe is a newly established specialist consultancy, founded in 2026. Its practice is built on more than 20 years of professional experience. The achievements below reflect the founder’s career and form the foundation of SpheMbhe’s technical expertise, networks and approach.
Resource mobilisation & programme development
Secured more than US$15 million in programme funding through strategic proposal development, donor engagement and partnership development.
Girls’ empowerment
Co-designed and implemented the Girls Empowerment Programme with the Department of Basic Education, reaching 10,000+ girls through life skills, gender-equality awareness, physical literacy and comprehensive sexuality education.
Sport & environmental sustainability
Led the pilot of the Sport for Climate & Environment Programme, building the capacity of 20 sport-for-development organisations to deliver environmental education through sport, reaching approximately 60,000 children.
Curriculum development
Directed the development of five Sport-for-Development curricula for the Government of South Africa and the national sport-for-development sector.
Practitioner development
Partnered with the German Sport University to design and implement a Sport-for-Development Practitioner Development Course, training 100+ emerging practitioners in South Africa.
Capacity development & safeguarding
Led capacity-development initiatives that trained 5,000+ coaches, educators and volunteers, with child protection and safeguarding principles integrated throughout.
Quality Physical Education
Led the Department of Basic Education’s national Quality Physical Education research and advocacy programme, mobilising resources that supported QPE implementation across 15,000+ primary schools and the training of 2,000+ educators.
Strategic partnerships
Established a partnership with SuperSport International that scaled the Let’s Play Physical Challenge, reaching 2.5 million+ children nationally.
Sport for development through cricket
Partnered with the International Cricket Council to deliver Cricket for Good programmes during the 2023 ICC U19 and Senior Women’s T20 World Cups in South Africa (2,000+ children), and was seconded by UNICEF India to lead the rollout during the 2023 ICC Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup (2,500+ children).
Youth leadership
Trained and capacitated 500+ young leaders and 5,000 learners through 50 Sport-for-Development training camps.
Research & global knowledge contribution
Contributed to two global studies on evidence for child-focused Sport-for-Development programmes led by the FC Barcelona Foundation and UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, and featured as a global best-practice example in the 2021 Playing the Game report.
Leadership
Ayanda Ndlovu
Founder & Principal Consultant
Areas of expertise
- Sport governance and programme design
- Safeguarding in sport
- Sport-for-development and youth engagement
- Environmental stewardship and sustainability learning
- Capacity building, facilitation and assessment
- Monitoring, evaluation and donor reporting
- Stakeholder engagement, partnership brokering and resource mobilisation
An accomplished sport and development practitioner with expertise in sport governance, programme design, capacity building, and using sport and physical activity to advance social development, environmental stewardship, wellbeing and inclusive community development. Holds a Master of Philosophy in Sport-for-Development and a Master of Commerce in Leadership Studies, with a proven track record leading transformative sports programmes in community sport, higher education, sports bodies and international development.
Leadership roles at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Limpopo demonstrated an ability to strengthen community and school sport, increase university sport participation, develop high-performance athletes and improve sports facilities. As Programme Lead at UNICEF South Africa, he contributed to Sport-for-Development initiatives reaching millions of children and secured over $15 million in programme funding. A SETA-certified and experienced facilitator and assessor, skilled in participatory learning, stakeholder engagement, organisational capacity building and fostering safe, inclusive and high-performing sport cultures.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainability Learning — Rhodes University, Environmental Learning Research Centre (2025–2026)
- Master of Philosophy (Sport-for-Development) — University of the Western Cape (2019–2023)
- Master of Commerce (Leadership Studies) — University of KwaZulu-Natal, Graduate School of Business & Leadership (2015–2016)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Sport for Development — University of the Western Cape (2015)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Management — University of KwaZulu-Natal (2013–2014)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Strategic Management) — University of South Africa (2006–2012)
- Diploma in Sport Management — IIE Varsity College (2002–2003)
Certifications & training
- SETA-certified: Facilitate Learning (Sport Science Institute of SA)
- Assess Learning (Institute of Sport)
- Project Management (Durban University of Technology)
- Train the Trainer; Mentoring and Coaching; Conflict Management; Decision Making; Problem Solving
- Sport Event Management; Event Safety Management; Life-Skills in Sport; Volunteering
- Sport for Sustainable Development (International Platform on Sport and Development)
- United Nations trainings including Results-Based Management, PSEA, and Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF
Clients & partners
Consultancy clients (2026–present)
- Wildlife and Environmental Society of Southern Africa (WESSA)
- Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) — Sport and Recreation Unit
Prior institutional network
Career relationships, not direct consultancy clients.
- UNICEF South Africa
- Department of Basic Education (South Africa)
- Cricket South Africa
- International Cricket Council (ICC)
- SuperSport International
- Laureus Sport for Good Foundation
- Sport for Social Change Network
- South African Universities Physical Education Association (SAUPEA)
- University of Johannesburg Olympic Studies Centre
- German Sport University Cologne
- FC Barcelona Foundation
- UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti
- UNICEF India
- University of KwaZulu-Natal
- University of Limpopo
- KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation
Ready to talk?
We work with organisations across South Africa, the continent and internationally.