The Australian Government has launched the latest phase of its sport for development program in the Pacific Islands.
The Team Up program has a strong focus on gender equity and disability inclusion. Photo: GHD
Team Up supports 30 sporting partnerships in Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu across 13 different sports: Australian rules, basketball, badminton, cricket, football, gymnastics, hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, swimming, table tennis and volleyball.
It includes initiatives to address gender-based violence, modified activities for people with and without disabilities to participate together, and programs that create women leaders on and off the field.
Team Up Partnerships Manager and former Papua New Guinea football captain Andrew Lepani said: "It is truly exciting to be launching Team Up and to be able to continue working with many established sport for development partners in the Pacific, along with several new ones.
"While Team Up builds on the solid foundations set by its long-running predecessor program, Pacific Sports Partnerships (PSP), it has a new and sharpened focus on allowing all people, regardless of their gender, ability or background, to reach their full potential through sport.
"The partners have been working closely with us over the past few months to design and refine their programs and we are all looking forward to teaming up to transform lives through sport."
Team Up launched across the Pacific at the start of March. Photo: Oceania Rugby
Team Up will also support regional partnerships to strengthen the sport sector in areas such as communications, leadership and safeguarding.
The first of these is the Women in News and Sport training and mentoring program delivered by ABC International Development that provides female journalists in Asia-Pacific with the tools to forge a career in the male-dominated world of sports media.
Team Up is launching with a week of activities leading into International Women's Day on 8 March to reflect the program's strong focus on gender equity.