Just Play is fully committed to helping young children in Vanuatu develop healthy lifestyles and the programme’s partners and sponsors have been impressed with the diffence that has been made just in the last few years.
The staff received plenty of opportunities to learn more about how to plan their programmes for the coming years and also received a wealth of information from long-term partners like Women’s Affairs, Save the Children Fund, Nabanga Association and the Department of Health.
The planning course was conducted by the Vanuatu Football Federation Social Responsibility department and was led by social responsibility manager George Regenvanu with the assistance of OFC Just Play technical coordinator Emmie Sope.
“It is great to see Vanuatu Football Federation fully support the Just Play programme. I think George and his staff in Vanuatu are doing a great job to help children in the country live a healthier lifestyle,” Sope says.
“I was proud to see that there are such a high number partners and sponsors who are willing to support Just Play in Vanuatu. It is a clear indication that the programme is growing rapidly.”
Regenvanu was pleased with the outcomes of the workshop.
“It was great to see all our staff so involved over the last three days. Our childrens’ programmes continue to develop at an impressive rate. We are able to provide our children, both girls and boys, with a chance to play football and learn about how to live a healthy life,” he says.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners, sponsors and faithful staff for making the planning workshop such a success.”
Developed by the OFC social responsibility and technical departments, Just Play is designed for children aged six to 12 and promotes physical activity while encouraging community involvement, healthy living, gender equality and disability development.
OFC has worked closely with UEFA, the Australian Government – through its agencies the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) – and Football Federation Australia to implement the programme across the Pacific over a three-year period between 2009 and 2012. It was launched in Tonga and is now also running in American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu.
The confederation has also been working in New Zealand with Special Olympics on a Just Play programme for people with mental disabilities and has launched the same initiative in Samoa and Fiji.
Just Play has reached over 106,000 children – 43 per cent of whom are female – across the Pacific and trained over 2,200 teachers and volunteers.
For more on Vanuatu football go to www.vanuafoot.vu