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Oceania Football Confederation and UN Women continue collaboration on gender equality in the Pacific
Date:
[Press release]
OFC uses the power of football, through programmes such as Just Play, to drive gender equality and empower women and girls throughout the Pacific. UN Women is proud to continue its partnership in Phase II of the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls programme. Photo: Courtesy of OFC
Suva, Fiji — Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and UN Women are pleased to announce an extension of their partnership.
First signed in 2022, the renewed memorandum of understanding will see the football confederation and UN Women continue to collaborate to improve gender equality, prevent and end violence against girls and women, and empower women and girls through football.
“In the Pacific Islands, sports play an important role in shaping attitudes, values and behaviours that can promote gender equality and prevent violence against women and girls. UN Women is pleased to support OFC and the member associations in their commitment to make football safe, equal and inclusive,” said Delphine Serumaga, Representative, UN Women Fiji Country Office.
UN Women’s support is through the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Pacific Partnership) programme, funded primarily by the Government of Australia and the European Union, and coordinated by UN Women and the Pacific Community in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum.
Continuing the partnership means that the football confederation can continue to leverage UN Women’s expertise to help develop Oceania-relevant resources, content and gender equality campaigns.
This work is key for the confederation to continue working towards a future free of violence against girls and women, and gender equality in football, said OFC General Secretary Franck Castillo.
“Gender equality has taken an even greater focus in our region following the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the first senior FIFA World Cup to be held in Oceania. The development and launch of This Is How We Football as one of our legacy programmes is a testament to this,” he said.
“Using the power of football to drive gender equality also means continuing to develop women’s football from grass-roots to the elite level. Ensuring girls and women have the opportunity to perform on the field is a key part of our work to change attitudes and perceptions.”
This Is How We Football is a Football for Good programme that breaks down barriers for women and girls to play football and maintain a life-long engagement with the sport. Aimed at teenage girls, the programme launched in 2024 in eight countries -- Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Kiribati -- with Papua New Guinea set to follow in 2025.
Along with the football confederation’s flagship Just Play programme, This Is How We Football has also created opportunities for capacity-building for women off the pitch, with 65 per cent of the nearly 600 participants on volunteer and coach training courses for these programmes being female in 2024.
In addition to launching This Is How We Football, the Oceania Football Confederation-UN Women collaboration has seen the Gender Equality Playbook published in 2022 and the Just Play Gender Equality curriculum introduced. The confederation’s first social responsibility strategy, The Power of Football, was launched in 2023, and has increased participation in the game for women and girls. UN Women also assisted in the delivery of regional training of trainer courses and will be collaborating with the confederation on the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign starting on 25 November.
More information:
Oceania Football Confederation Media
Ella Reilly
Media and Communications Officer – Social Responsibility
e: [ Click to reveal ] | m: +6421 1975 826
UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office
Shazia Usman, Communications and Media Specialist – EVAWG Programme
e: [ Click to reveal ] | m: +679 9228389
Background on the Pacific Partnership
The Pacific region has some of the highest rates of violence against women recorded in the world – twice the global average with an estimated two in every three Pacific women impacted by gender-based violence. Along with high rates of violence – a grave human rights violation - women and girls in the Pacific region experience constant and continual inequalities including low levels of participation in decision-making, limited economic opportunities, and restricted access to critical services and rights.
The Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Pacific Partnership) Phase II (2024-2027) is a regional and multi-country programme promoting gender equality and preventing violence against women and girls in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories.
The Pacific Partnership brings together governments, civil society organisations, communities, and other partners to promote gender equality, prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG), and increase access to quality response services for survivors. The USD19.15 million partnership is funded primarily by the Government of Australia (USD10.7m), and the European Union (USD8.2m) and is coordinated by the UN Women, the Pacific Community (SPC), in strategic partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
Phase II of the programme aims to build on progress in transforming social norms at the community level achieved in Phase I (2018-2023) through innovative and strategic social influencers, including education, faith, and sports sectors, as well as lessons learned from the implementation of the Spotlight Initiatives in the Pacific. Based on lessons learned and emerging VAWG trends and gaps in policy and practice in the region, Phase II (2024-2027) will implement new cross-cutting strategic interventions that advance women’s economic and social empowerment and advance climate-centred efforts to prevent VAWG through data, advocacy, and partnerships.