World Rugby and ChildFund on September 5 launched a major international partnership to change children’s lives through the transformative power of sport.

The program facilitates gender inclusion in various activities, particularly in sports. (source: ChildFund VN)

The event marked a new milestone in the development of the program with the cooperation with World Rugby. It aimed at expanding the scale of activities and the range of disadvantages juvenile beneficiaries in Asia and Vietnam in particular.

Funds raised through the partnership of World Rugby and ChildFun will enable ChildFund Pass It Back – a transformational rugby for good program winning the UNICEF Safeguarding Children in Sport Award 2017 – to be expanded in Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines, and extended to other developing countries in the region. Donated funds will also assist with emergency relief efforts in disaster-affected areas in Japan.

According to Childfund Vietnam, the partnership will benefit over 20,000 children from disadvantaged communities across Asia.

The ChildFund Pass It Back program has already assisted more than 6,000 children across Asia, with its unique curriculum that integrates tag rugby and life skills learning to help young people in a range of areas including leadership, problem solving, gender equity, conflict resolution and planning for the future. The program has high participation rates for girls and young women.

Since its launching in Vietnam in 2015, ChildFund Pass It Back has benefited over 3,200 children and teenagers in Hoa Binh province through 8,488 lessons, 2,172 of which are for life skills. The program specifically focuses on gender inclusion, hence empowers Asian women and girls. Over 50% of all players and coaches involved in ChildFund Pass It Back are female.

Details of the program: www.childfunpassitback.org

( Translated by Hong Anh )