Lifesavers from across Asia and Africa are sharing new-found skills with their lifesaving organisations, thanks to a course run by the RNLI.

An estimated 1.2M people drown around the world every year – more than the number who die from malaria. Most of these drownings occur in some of the world’s poorest countries, which have either very limited lifesaving services or none at all.

As part of the charity’s aim to help reduce the global drowning problem, 14 delegates from countries including Bangladesh, Kenya, Sudan and Sri Lanka visited the RNLI’s Headquarters, Dorset, in July. The Future Leaders in Lifesaving course gave them essential lifesaving skills and strategies for building and sustaining their own rescue services.

Topics covered by the course included the causes of drowning, the role of a lifeguard, equipment needed to run a lifesaving service, managing incidents, practical lifesaving skills, conducting beach risk assessments, writing training programmes, and how to run safety education initiatives.

The course builds on the RNLI’s broader international development work, some of which has been delivered in-country – for example, RNLI lifeguard trainers have spent time in Bangladesh, Senegal, Kenya and Cameroon, helping volunteer lifesavers in each country establish their own lifesaving services.

The Future Leaders in Lifesaving course ran for the first time last year. Austin Andemani from Uganda said: ‘The skills the RNLI are providing are so great for our kind of work. I will be able to push lifesaving activities further from where it has been in Uganda. The content, the people, everything has been fantastic. It is so important for us to remember that although water gives life, it can also take life away.’ For more on the RNLI’s international initiative, visit RNLI.org/international.