First Pan-African Universities Debating Championships

From http://www.botsdebating.com/

PAUDC

Welcome to the Official Website for the First Pan-African Universities Debating Championships!
There are many things we hope to achieve by organizing this tournament, but our main 5 aims are:

• To bring together university students from across the African continent and engage them in training, debates and educational exposure that will increase their critical thinking skills and foster leadership
• To create a platform for the establishment of an African Universities Debating Board which will facilitate the dissemination of training materials, coordination of Pan African debating events and cooperative fundraising efforts for international tournaments and training sessions.
• To create a forum in which the general African citizenry can be exposed to new ideas, discuss topical issues and be challenged to think critically
• To build a culture of debate, that extends from the universities to schools and all areas of society
• To develop structures that spread, support and encourage debate throughout the African continent, acting as an impetus for the development of debating in Africa through incentivizing debaters to engage in debating with the aim of representing their country at an accessible but prestigious international competition

Access

Botswana's main Airport is Sir Seretse Khama International Airport situated 15km from the capital of Gaborone, and the best gateway to enter Botswana is via Johannesburg International Airport with regular connections throughout the whole world. This is the airport that only a year after the tournament Botswana will be taking in an estimated 3 million fans for the FIFA World Cup. So not only will you be able to get a flight easily, it'll also probably cost a lot less than you expect.

Air Botswana flies regularly between Johannesburg, Harare and Victoria Falls with over 37 flights a week only to Johannesburg. If we include South African Airways, that would make 8 flights per day Gaborone - Johannesburg, with connections to and from Durban and Cape Town. Flights from Johannesburg to Gaborone costs anywhere from 70 to 230 USD (depending on when you book, and if you buy online or at the airport on arrival). You can also take a luxury coach, which costs about 20 USD. It takes about 4 hours, but it's a great way to see the beautiful country.

Adjudication and Tabbing

We want to run a tournament that is remembered equally for being a great amount of fun and for having good debates. A big part of that is ensuring good adjudication for everyone. We are committed to being to as close to perfect as we can. We will promise that: we will build an adjudication team with a balance of experience and youth, we will use a process that is as open as possible, and allow the greatest amount of interaction and feedback and We will develop the local, regional and international adjudication pool, in order to improve the quality and consistency of adjudication standards.

We will be allocating more time to the workshops (curriculum) as most countries in Africa are new to BP. During workshops, we would like to get experienced debaters to share theirs experiences, coaching, debating etc, for about an hour in between rounds, someone can talk about fundraising, or recruitment, or share debate/adjudication skills. We can have 3 or 4 sessions like this happening at the same time, to give people opportunities to choose something they like to listen to, or they'd like to share. This will increase the education and sharing value of the tournament. We plan on a free day (day 7) after the tournament so we can have a Conference on Pan-African Debate. This is where we can talk about the challenges faced, and build sustainable frameworks. We can re-propose the African Debate Roadmap and talk about serious implementation, goals and targets. We would also then form a Pan-African Debate Council, pass a constitution and charter and plan the next tournament. Our plan is to make it more educational as well as thinking about long term sustainability.

Chief Adjudicator......

We have selected our adjudication team, External Chief Adjudicator: Logandran Balavijendran
Logan was the Chief Adjudicator for the MMU Worlds 2005, MMU Australs 2003 and the Deputy Chief Adjudicator Assumption Asians 2004. He has also been part of the organizing committees of 3 Asians, 1 AustralAsian and 1 World Championship. As a debater he was a Worlds Octofinalists, Asian Champion, Asian Best Speaker and AustralAsian Finalist. He has run debate workshops in 10 different countries in Asia and has given up Engineering to teach Speech and Debate at Chung Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.

Internal Chief Adjudicator....

Internal Chief Adjudicator: Lesang Magang has been involved in debating for more than 15 years now. He is currently the Managing Director of Phakalane Estates (Pty) Ltd., a major property development company. It is one of the largest privately-owned township developers involved in residential, commercial and industrial developments in Botswana. He is also Director in various companies. Lesang is a specialist in public-speaking, he was a Semi-finalist at the World Universities Debating Competition in public speaking in Stellenbosch in 1996 and Athens in 1997.He was also ranked in the world’s top twenty-four judges for the Universities World Debating Championships in Mania, Philippines. He is a speaker on numerous radio talk shows on business in Botswana as well as the role of youth in development. He was the Chief Adjudicator at the Botswana, Lesotho Swaziland (BOLESWA) Inter-University Debating Competition and at the 2008 Gaborone Rotary Club debating Championships. He featured in the 30th Anniversary of Botswana’s Independence Publication as one of the Who’s Who of Botswana. This section of the publication highlighted some of the many men and women who have contributed to the development of Botswana. When at university in England, he was voted the National President of the UK-Botswana Students Union and a year Representative and President of the University of Central England Legal Society. He was also Senior Counsel for Moots and Senior Debater for Competitions for the University of Central England and a quarter Finalist of the UK Observer (Newspaper) Mooting Competition.

Brief Introduction

The Pan- African Universities Debating Championships (PAUDC) Organizing Committee, (formerly Botswana Worlds bid organizing committee) in conjunction with The University of Botswana and The Botswana Debating Council, is proud to organize the Inaugural Pan- African Universities Debating Championships to be held in Botswana, Gaborone in December 2008.

The PAUDC will bring together universities from 14 African Countries in addition to two universities in the West Indies- Barbados and Jamaica making it 16 countries. The 16 countries we have chosen to invite are those we feel we have a reasonable chance of success in getting them to the tournament. Below are the countries we are targeting: From West Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia, from east Africa Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and from Southern Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Swaziland. We will strive for regional representation to host a truly African event. We will have a team cap of two teams, one adjudicator and an observer for each country so as to ensure regional representation. We expect about 150 participants, and 12 trainers (4 from Botswana, 4 from South Africa and 4 more to be provided by IDEA/OSI. Logan from South Korea will run the adjudication and tab) who will develop the curriculum.

Cognizant of the vital role played by debating in enhancing critical thinking, communication skills, democratic ethos and general leadership skills, The PAUDC will aim to develop these skills amongst participants through formal training workshops, competitive debate and interactive forums with leaders in business, civil society and government. It is essential for the general public to become involved in debate and thought regarding the many critical issues that face Africa. It is this informed public involvement that will aid us moving forward as individual nations and as a continent. In light of this, the PAUDC will also seek to involve the general public extensively on topical issues and engage them in critical thought. We believe in our hearts, that a culture of debate builds better societies, protects people and helps everyone grow and become better people.

The PAUDC will be the best chance to jump start debate in Africa. It is difficult for universities in our continent to attend regional and international tournaments. But it's important that they do, because it creates intense motivation to debate and spread debate, and it allows people around the world to hear our thoughts and feel our cultures. We also believe that it's important to have a debating tournament in Africa, because, so much is said, heard, thought about our continent without perspective, without context, without identity. It's important for those challenging to shape the future of the world, to do some of that in Africa.

Registration

Affordable Registration

We believe we can run an effective and fun tournament at a registration of P450 (less than 90 USD)!! This is because of the favourable exchange rate, cost of living and the potential significant support. The university has confirmed that they will support us logistically which guarantees a very financially stable tournament. We are planning the tournament based on a team cap of 200 teams, but this can be raised or lowered without seriously affecting the tournament.

Registration will open on the 15th of October 2008 and last to the 15th of November 2008. Please register as quickly as you can! Email us if you need anything to help with you travel or registration, for example specific invitation letters or documents to help with your visa.

Registration will take place using the website www.joyoftournaments.com. We advise that you sign up at the website http://www.joyoftournaments.com/user/editacct.asp?tid=8066 to create an account for registration. If any problems arise when creating a new account now we will have plenty of time to sort it out before Registration opens in October. We kindly request that you make a tentative estimation if you will be able to register and how many teams you will be bringing so we can plan accordingly until formal registration begins. IDEA/OSI has very generously offered to pay 50% subsidizes of the registration fee of each participating team.

if you have any problems registering, please email us.

Social Events

We have an experienced organising team, with anywhere from 5-10 years debate and hosting experience. We have actively participated in the South African Debating Championships for the past 9 years and are regular breakers in the tournament. Since 1997 we have competed in the World Universities Debating Championship twice in Stellenbosch (1997, 2003), NTU Singapore (2004), MMU Malaysia (2005) and UBC Vancouver (2007). We have organized the Botswana schools debating tournament for the past four years and the Botswana inter-college championships. We know that organising tournaments can be logistically exhaustive, random and difficult to manage. We know because we've been part of, planned and executed similar tournaments and events before and are thus ready for the challenge.
Botswana is affordable, safe and exciting.

Welcome party & Break Night Party

Phakalane Golf and Country Resort: Just 15km from the University, is the just the spot to have our own party and party as long and as hard as we want to! It's a perfect combination of luxurious comforts and natural beauty. It'll become clear when you’re sipping your drink under the star filled sky, feeling the soft cool African breeze stroke your skin. Phakalane is packed with other bars and clubs, so if you want to keep on partying when everyone else has gone home, you have some of the best clubs in Africa to choose from.

Championship dinner & grand finale

The Grand Championship Dinner and finale will indeed be Grand, for it will be hosted at the Gaborone International Convention Center! Located at the Grand Palm Casino Resort, and only a short distance away from the University, this will be the epitome of style and class, while retaining comfort and casualness. You can look forward to a grand dinner, featuring both local, regional and international fare, as well as some of the more favourite beverages, wines and champagnes of the region. Our objective is for you have as much fun as you possible can, and to help that, we're working on ensuring you can eat, drink and drink, as much as you like!

10th December-Day 3

As home to Africa's famous big five, we have arranged with Mmokolodi game reserve on the 10th December for game viewing, leopard patting and elephant riding to ensure that the event is a rather unforgettable one. There's also the Gaborone Game reserve which is less that 10Km from the University campus which is home to over 150 species of wild animals, flora and fauna. Among other places are the exquisite indoor and outdoor bars, clubs and coffee shops, designed and built under a true African theme, the Gaborone Golf club, Big-Five Lodge and the famous Okavango Delta. Furthermore, in our endeavor to provide entertainment that is balanced and appeals to everyone’s tastes, each day of debate will be rounded of with a social event.

Tournament Logistics

Excellent facilities for debate

The University of Botswana has a long and impressive track record of hosting large regional events. The entire tournament will take place on the University of Botswana campus, which is in the city centre of Gaborone. The institution is compact, making access to debate venues fast and easy. We have more than 90 smart classrooms which will make excellent debate venues, lectures halls with more than 500 persons seating capacity and comfortable dining halls. all the infrastructure to host large international conferences is available. In the last two years alone, UB hosted the BOLESWA games between Botswana Lesotho Swaziland (which includes debating), a pre CHOGM Symposium for all Commonwealth Universities, the NOMA awards for the best writer, author and publisher n Africa, the first IASTED conference in Africa (International Association for Science and technology Development) and many more vents that depended upon huge conference facilities, IT support, first world class accommodation, safe environments and easy international access.

Great Accommodation

Accommodation will be on our new state of the art residential centre inside the university. With all facilities of a world class conference, and comes with a swimming pool. The University has come on board as sponsors and thus we have very special rates. This allows us to charge a very affordable registration fee and treat participants in the most comfortable and luxurious manner.