Developing the capacity of safeguarding leaders in Member Associations was the key focus for OFC’s first Safeguarding Training of Trainers (ToT), which took place this week in Nadi, Fiji.
Delivered in partnership with the Australian Government through Team UP, UN Women and FIFA Forward, the four-day workshop was attended by safeguarding leads and representatives from Fiji Football Association (Filomena Liku, Louisa Simmons and Rejieli Kakua Yabakivou), New Caledonian Football Federation (Marjorie Pouye), Papua New Guinea Football Association (Christine Wamala Uru and Mathias Apo), Solomon Islands Football Federation (Maria Rarawa), Tonga Football Association (Meleseini Tufui), New Zealand Football (Paula Hansen and Dr Johanna Wood), Cook Islands Football Association (Dr Paul Allsworth), Vanuatu Football Federation (Yannick Jimmy) and Samoa Football (Laumata Lafoga).
The ToT covered best and poor practices in football; how to recognise and respond to signs of abuse and violence; the reporting process and how to receive and document complaints; how to deliver safeguarding training and sessions to a range of audiences including clubs, member associations and national teams; and to understand the essential elements of safeguarding case management.
The ToT built on the Regional Safeguarding Workshop held by Team Up in November 2024, attended by OFC Safeguarding and Wellbeing Manager Palu Uhatahi Tu’amoheloa.
“We want to ensure football in our region is safe, regardless of the level it’s played at,” she said.
“Developing the capacity of our member associations to deliver safeguarding sessions is a key step in creating a strong safeguarding culture in football. This ToT is important to equip our safeguarding leads to be able to teach others to recognise abuse, understand their responsibilities, as well as the processes around reporting.
“Sessions could be delivered to medical staff, competitions staff, media and broadcast, match officials, players, coaches. Trainers need to be able to really understand these to be tailor the safeguarding content to these different contexts,” she said.
Participants also heard from experts in disability inclusion, safeguarding and wellbeing in times of emergency (such as during a natural disaster) and gender-based violence: Roshika Deo from Team Up, Shabina Khan from UN Women, Selin Arpaci (Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, Football Victoria, Australia), and Laure Gruffat (FIFA Disability Football & Accessibility Manager).
For SIFF safeguarding lead Maria Rarawa, the opportunity delve deeper into specifc safeguarding topics and contexts was valuable.
“I’ve been doing safeguarding for a while, but the learnings this week have been enormous,” she said.
“Going into detail about best practice and the poor practices, these are all vitally important things in our journey as safeguarding leads and for when we review our safeguarding policies.
“One of the topics that I was really interested in is safeguarding with our friends with disabilities. These are the forgotten people in society, and football can be a tool to assist with our people and friends with disability using safeguarding to protect them and see their needs and address the needs at hand.”
Rarawa’s sentiments were echoed by OFC Executive Committee (ExCo) member, FIFA Council Member and New Zealand Football President Dr Johanna Wood, who also emphasised the importance of all levels of the game taking ownership of safeguarding.
“I see it as my responsibility as a governor within the game both at the OFC table and at the FIFA table to role model being open to learning.
“It’s important for us to remember that we are not alone, that we are in this together, and that we can rely on each other for support to create a safe network and environment for those of us who have the safeguarding lead in our MA.”
OFC Safeguarding and Wellbeing Manager Palu Uhatahi Tu’amoheloa led the workshop, assisted by Dr Teeny Aiken (OFC Head of Social Responsibility), Lavenia Yalovi (Just Play Programme Manager) and Michelle Paiti (Just Play Regional Officer), Maria Rarawa from SIFF, Dr Paul Allsworth from CIFA, Roshika Deo from Team Up and Shabina Khan from UN Women.
Safeguarding has been a core focus for OFC over the last two years through the Power of Football strategy‘s Inclusive Oceania pillar. Since 2024 OFC has included a QR code system on all competition accreditations to enable anyone involved in a competition to discreetly report safeguarding concerns if needed.
Photo credit: OFC Media