BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – 8 JUNE 2017: Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 is set to inspire young female rugby players from disadvantaged communities in Asia, with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), World Rugby and ChildFund Pass It Back giving them the opportunity to visit Ireland and take part in an international rugby competition.
ChildFund Pass It Back is an innovative Sport for Development program led by ChildFund in partnership with World Rugby, Asia Rugby and Women Win that delivers an integrated life skills and rugby curriculum for children and young people in disadvantaged communities across Asia.
To date, more than 3,000 children and youth from Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam have benefitted from participation in the program, with girls making up over 50 per cent of the players and coaches.
Chris Mastaglio, Director of ChildFund Pass It Back, said: “Working in partnership with the IRFU and World Rugby, we decided to hold this event in the lead-up to the Women’s Rugby Cup Final to show that women and girls’ rugby is developing across the world – from international players at the event, to grassroots players from countries like Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines. In addition, ChildFund’s Pass It Back program prioritises gender equity and the inclusion of girls, so we will have lots of female players from Asia taking part who can be inspired by their peers in Belfast.”
“It’s incredibly exciting – many of our young coaches and players have not left their province before, let alone flown on a plane to a different country. This is going to be such a great opportunity for them, and we thank IRFU for helping to make this happen.Û”
Youth coming from Asia will play under the banner of the South-East Asian Dragons, and will compete with girls teams from across Belfast in a participation tag rugby event, the ChildFund Pass It Back Cup 2017 Belfast at Belfast Harlequins RFC on 21 August, the day before the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final.
Nora Stapleton, Women’s and Girls’ Development Manager of the IRFU, said: “We are delighted to include ChildFund Pass It Back in our Impact Beyond programmes for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017, and we look forward to seeing girls from Belfast and surrounding areas welcoming girls from communities across Asia.”
ChildFund Pass It Back was established for young people who face significant poverty and have few, if any, opportunities to get involved in organised sport. For young girls, the obstacles are even greater.
“It is an absolute privilege for the IRFU to be able to support the development of new talent in these remote areas – by sharing our skills and knowledge we can get both young women and men excited about the game, and inspire a whole new generation of players in Asia.”
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – 5 June 2017: Respected international development agencies ChildFund Australia and iCARE (International Christian Aid Relief Enterprise) today announced their decision to join forces, and combine their decades of experience in delivering high quality education programs for children in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
The formal transition is expected to take place on 1 July 2017, when iCARE will become a subsidiary of ChildFund Australia. At that time, ChildFund Australia will absorb iCARE’s operations, and assume the overall management and implementation of its development programs in The Philippines and Kenya.
ChildFund Australia implements programs with a range of local partners in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam, and manages projects delivered by partner organisations throughout Asia, Africa and the Americas. iCARE has implemented programs in many of the world’s poorest communities and currently undertakes projects with partner organisations in Kenya and the Philippines.
Nigel Spence, CEO of ChildFund Australia, said: “Our organisations share similar histories, a long-standing commitment to children’s rights and a strong belief in the vital importance of education in breaking the cycle of poverty.”
“We have a great amount of respect for the work that iCARE undertakes and the support it has secured from the Australian public. So we are excited to see how combining our strengths will bring positive change to even more children in a way that is innovative, effective and cost-efficient.”
Julian Fewtrell, Chair of iCARE, said: “We are delighted to be aligning with a like-minded organisation that so clearly shares our purpose and values. It presents a wonderful opportunity to expand our work to even more communities as part of the larger ChildFund Alliance network.”
Both ChildFund Australia and iCARE were established in Australia during the 1980s in response to global child poverty. Both organisations take a holistic approach to their child-focused development activities, with projects covering education, healthcare, water and sanitation, nutrition, livelihoods and child protection.
With significant expertise in the field of education, both ChildFund and iCARE prioritise increased access to education, high standards of school facilities and improvements in the quality of education for children in the rural communities where they work.
In recent years, this has seen both organisations implement projects which have delivered new or improved school buildings and related infrastructure, teacher training in child-friendly learning methodologies, modernised educational resources such as libraries and technology, and the creation of new literacy and numeracy programs to improve learning outcomes for children.
