FIBA’s Basketball for Good Expands to Papua New Guinea
September 9, 2022
The International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) Foundation - the International Basketball Foundation (IBF) - has taken its Hoops for Health project to Kavieng, Papua New Guinea. As part of the IBF's Basketball for Good initiative, the project includes an array of workshops, courses and basketball programs to improve the health of youth and the community.
IBF’s mission is to address the role of sports, in particular, basketball in the fields of community building, education, women's empowerment, health and wellbeing and conflict resolution. It created Basketball for Good in 2016 and as of 2020, has run 15 projects in 64 countries reaching 28,000 youths globally. In Oceania, the Foundation developed the program after recognizing the value of the sport as a tool for social development in the Pacific. The overall goal of the initiative is to increase the capacity to deliver high-quality basketball programs, which enable participants to become healthy, contributing to members of their communities.
“Since participating in Hoops for Health, I feel better about myself and my self-confidence has improved,” said participant Rodrick Morea. “Feeling good about myself has changed my attitude towards my peers and family, so I am building better relationships.”
Basketball for Good programs and their resulting projects around the world directly contribute to most of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hoops for Health works directly on SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization, the major health problems currently affecting the country include diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and acute respiratory disease - the major causes of morbidity and mortality. UNICEF describes Papua New Guinea's health system as "fragile with poor health and immunization outcomes." An estimated 15,400 children die each year mostly from preventable diseases.
In Kavieng, the intention is to benefit local youth and communities beyond basketball while teaching them the skills of the sport. It is also a way to provide children in remote districts of Papua New Guinea with access to vital community and cultural messaging "to influence generational change."
“Basketball is a wonderful outlet for children to learn more about themselves, with a basketball in their hands and a hoop in sight, they are invincible. It is important for children to learn about their capabilities and how they can use those capabilities off the court to contribute to their family and communities,” said Jordan Sere, Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) Development Coordinator who has been traveling around the country for three years and sees positive changes within remote communities.
The first official Hoops for Health tour took place last month in Kavieng. Across four days, people ranging from five to fifty-five years old took part in basketball-based programs and workshops with many experiencing basic skills like passing, dribbling and shooting for the first time. The tour demonstrated a demand for more basketball programs in the region to provide awareness around local issues where the sport can be used as a tool for communication.
“If we can continue to integrate basketball and social development through our programs, we will be doing a huge service to our community,” said Miskus Eadique Lapan, the newly appointed Basketball Papua New Guinea Executive Officer.
Basketball for Good in Papua New Guinea is supported by the Australian Government through Team Up, and delivered by FIBA and its partners including the PNG Olympic Committee, PNG Sports Foundation and Business for Health.