Efforts to promote on gender equality recognised

The National Youth & Careers

JACQUELINE Joseph, pictured, from Papua New Guinea has been named Commonwealth Pacific Young Person of the Year.
Joseph is the co-founder of Equal Playing Field, a non-profit organisation that uses sports as a tool to raise awareness on violence against women and children and promote gender equality in schools.
She created Equal Playing Field for School (EPF4S), an eight-week respectful relationships programme that uses sport to engage with adolescent boys and girls.
Through the programme, Joseph educates around 2000 13  to 15-year-old girls and boys in schools in Port Moresby each year about the importance of respectful relationships to reduce family and sexual violence.
Within two years of operation, EPF4S had trained 90 volunteer facilitators, who had worked with over 4000 young people and 80 teachers in over 18 schools.
Its model was recognised as ‘emerging best practice’ at two recent international conferences in Fiji and Australia.
Equal Playing Field aims to also run a training programme for school sports coaches in the Solomon Islands.
On learning of her award, Joseph said: “The award brings in great recognition for Equal Playing Field in the Pacific region and the globe.
As an organisation we have done great work, however, we have not been able to share to a great extent what we have achieved.
“This award is really beneficial in this context because the hard work and passion of the Equal Playing Field movement is felt by the world.
“Young people not only in the Pacific but the world now get to hear about an initiative run by young people just like them and a programme that is supporting their future generation.”
The Commonwealth Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work, an initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s youth programme, celebrates outstanding young adults aged under 30 who are leading initiatives ranging from poverty alleviation to peace-building.
This year’s winners, drawn from over 200 entries, are recognised for spearheading projects that will contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals– a set of 17 global targets that governments have committed to achieve by 2030.
At the awards ceremony on March 15 at Marlborough House, the Commonwealth’s headquarters in London, regional awards were presented to four young people chosen from a shortlist of 17 finalists:

  • Krystle Reid from Sri Lanka – Commonwealth Young Person of the Year and Commonwealth Asia Young Person of the Year;
  • Jacqueline Joseph from Papua New Guinea – Commonwealth Pacific Young Person of the Year;
  • Charles Lipenga from Malawi – Commonwealth Africa Young Person of the Year; and,
  • Tricia Teekah from Guyana – Commonwealth Caribbean Young Person of the Year.