Twenty Women’s Development Officers (WDOs) became qualified OFC Women’s Football Educators after completing the organisation’s Train the Trainer Programme earlier this year.
The WDOs came from seven Member Associations, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and New Zealand.
New Zealanders Annalie Longo, Alana Gunn and Papua New Guinea’s Margaret Aka, who secured a scholarship as part of the FIFA Coach Education Scholarship Programme in March this year, were among the participants.
The Train the Trainer Programme aimed to teach the WDOs how to deliver OFC’s Women’s Football Capacity Building Programme in their local communities.
Six 90-minute online workshops were held over six weeks, focusing on three modules; life skills, leadership skills and work skills, which were broken down into prepare and apply phase activities.
The apply phase, where participants were able to share ideas and practice with one another following each online session, was a significant part of the learning process to gain maximum benefit from the workshops.
The programme was facilitated by Capability Group Senior Consultant Annie Kennedy, while OFC Women’s Football Manager Emma Evans and OFC Women’s Football Consultant Ashleigh Cox also delivered an event planning workshop.
Football Federation Samoa WDO Laumata Lafoga said it was valuable to her personal growth.
“I learned a lot about my values and being able to see how the most important values in my life influenced others,” Lafoga said.
“From there I was able to use the wheel cycle tool that was taught on the course to prioritise the important things in my life.
“Overall I really enjoyed the different discussions that went on between the different Member Associations which gave me the opportunity to gain more knowledge from their experiences.”