Rugby captains promoting peace in Bougainville

Transcript

Kia-Henry Nema: It's actually from Bougainville Rugby because they have one of the few successful rugby sevens teams in Papua New Guinea, the Black Orchids. They've been running a programme in Bougainville particularly with the schools development programme, trying to encourage the youths of Bougainville to take up rugby as a sport because they've got some successful stories within Bougainville where some of their players have gone on to play in the national side and in some other international events. So they've decided they wanted to organise a rugby festival as a way to promote the sport but also use the sport to make some awareness of the the (independence) referendum as well as peace processes that the Bougainville government is doing and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). So that's where the UNDP got interested because we have a programme in Bougainville to support the idea. So for this weekend from the 27th to the 30th is a rugby festival in Arawa. Currently 10 rugby teams are registered to participate, that's both for men and women as well.

Ben Robinson Drawbridge: Now of the rugby teams taking part in the festival, I understand that the captains of the teams are being trained to become ambassadors for the development goals?

KN: That's correct. Two weeks ago I was in Bougainville conducting that training. They've also wanted other people who are leading the clubs to participate. I think when we did the first training it was only an introduction to the SDGs and peace and referendum and so forth. So we are planning another one, a sort of a follow up, to see how they're going and then give them other skills that they will need to be able to do the ambassadorial roles.

BRD: Will they be speaking to their own communities or their clubs?

KN: We're working with the Bougainville Department of Referendum. It is envisaged that they will be used in the area of sports and also trying to bring in more youths into peace and development activities. Hopefully we can also use the platform to bring in sports men and women from other sports to promote SDGs and peace and referendum and so forth.

BRD: Is this the first time that you've tried to use sport as a vehicle for sustainable development?

KN: In Bougainville yes, but not at the national level. We have a partnership with the PNG Olympic Committee and they have ambassadors who go out and promote certain SDG goals, so we're hoping that that relationship can grow stronger and have particularly other popular sports, like rugby league for example. It's very popular and Papua New Guinea will be hosting maybe three or so matches for the World Cup that is coming. So using that sort of opportunity to build momentum as well as to get the awareness on the SDGs out to our population is something that we'll be very keen to use.