An all-female soccer team from three secondary schools in NCD will be sent off on a Sports Visitor Program in the United States.
This Sports Visitor Program will be the first-ever for Papua New Guinea that follows the very successful Sports Envoy Program in Basketball, in 2015, and initiated by the US Embassy Port Moresby.
The program directly supports Embassy Port Moresby’s mission priorities of empowerment of women and girls, and the elimination of gender-based violence (GBV).
“The program offers valuable opportunities to promote women’s empowerment and launches a high-level campaign against gender-based violence,” said public affairs officer, Beverly Thacker.
Thacker said the program will also help to elevate women’s soccer through the participation of secondary school female students, and will further highlight the potential of sports to combat gender-based violence through the year-long Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) campaign and SportsUnited’s sports diplomacy programming in the United States.
This program is one part of the United States’ commitment to the trilateral partnership with the Papua New Guinean and Australian governments that began during the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2016.
The all-female group comprises nine participants selected from Port Moresby National High, Marianville and Caritas secondary schools.
They are: Ginate Mahuru, Joni Babona, Stella Kaugam, Samantha Yuwom, Kuria Gibilen, Carolyn Ruddaka, Manuella Avel, Deborah Tambiol, and Fidelma Miki. They will be accompanied by chaperone Ms. Concepta Wut, a physical education teacher at Marianville Secondary School.
The team departs Port Moresby today (December 10) for the 10-day Sports Visitor Program in Washington, D.C, and Orlando, Florida, to participate in workshops on nutrition, gender equity in sport, sport and disability and team-building.