Nine coordinators from seven provinces completed their Just Play Train the Trainers’ four day workshop on Sunday with the objective to equip attendees with the basic skills to conduct a teachers and volunteer course.
Franck Castillo, OFC Head of Social Responsibility, Melissa Palombi UNICEF Sport for Development consultant and Emmie Sope, Just Play Technical Coordinator, conducted the capacity building workshop that included a the Train the Trainer workshop in Papua New Guinea. Ed McCowan, from the Australian Sports Commission, was also part of the delegation.
“Papua New Guinea is such a big country that it is very difficult to develop the program across the board with only one team based in Port Moresby. Therefore we proposed to the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) a new strategy. By building the local capacity of coordinators in each region Just Play will grow faster and will make a bigger impact in the lives of thousands of young people and children,” said Castillo.
“We are very lucky to have the full support of the PNGFA President David Chung as well as the PNGFA General Secretary Dimirit Mileng,” said Castillo.
Mileng opened the workshop on behalf of David Chung in front of OFC’s current partners, the Australian government, the Ministry of Health, as well as new potential partners like UNICEF Papua New Guinea and World Vision PNG.
During the two first days coordinators learnt how to promote the Just Play program to stakeholders to introduce the sport for development program into schools and community.
“It is also important to measure the social impact of Just Play and train our coordinators to monitor the program” said Castillo.
During the workshop participants learnt how to use the evaluation tools developed by OFC Social Responsibility with the assistance of Palombi.
The coordinators worked closely with the Just Play PNGFA team leaded by Margaret Aka, the Project Manager strongly supported by Taku Niebo, PNGFA Technical director and David Brand, the Special Advisor for the PNGFA to develop an action plan that will raise the Just Play program to a new level.
Sope says inspiring a positive reaction in course participants was important.
“Our approach over the four days of the Train the Trainer workshop was to inspire participants to understand their role as trainers focusing on the wellbeing of children from a holistic point of view, and how we (the trainers) can impart and equip teachers and volunteers to deliver the Just Play’s key social messages to children.
“Another objective was to also integrate ways of knowing what to deliver, when to deliver it, understand why we’re delivering a particular session and how to utilize the tools and skills given during the training to conduct the Just Play courses using the teachers and volunteers manual and guide as our roadmap.
“The onus is now on the coordinators to fulfil the mission of the programme in Papua New Guinea, to help this nation’s young people to make changes today for a better tomorrow,” Sope said.
During the workshop the coordinators had the opportunity to interact with each other and share ideas on issues affecting their own province and community.
The synergy and collaboration by the group was an important feature of the workshop given the geographic isolation the coordinators experience from each other.
With Sope’s help the coordinators were also taught how to prepare a Just Play session based on the key messages and activities in its delivery.
“Papua New Guinea is rich in diverse culture, language and people, therefore, we emphasised this unique quality but focused on how diversity can be enhanced by unity.
“It is all about inspiring teachers and volunteers to deliver life skill messages to children through the Just Play program so that they can make better choices in the future,” Sope said.
The coordinator role has key performance targets as part of its remit that includes engaging with schools and community leaders to promote the program engage them and get their support.
Following the training of teachers and volunteers they implement and monitor Just Play using evaluation tools.
The responsibilities do not end there with budgeting, expenses and work plan all designed by the coordinator who reports to the Papua New Guinea Just Play project manager on a weekly basis.
“I think we began to change the way participants think when they participated actively and we delivered the key messages during the practical sessions.
“But the sharing of experiences and stories during classroom time was also a platform for everyone to reflect on the Just Play key messages.
“It helped to redirect their thinking by understanding that everyone is different but despite that, we are one and must work together for a better tomorrow,” Sope said.