Using sport to combat gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Danny O’Brien delivers a seminar on their research -

The Surfing Association of Papua New Guinea (SAPNG) initiated an innovative program called “The Pink Nose Revolution” that uses surfing to raise community awareness about gender-based violence (GBV), which while a scourge worldwide, is particularly rampant in PNG. This research uses qualitative methods to analyse this program and current efforts to expand its scope and broaden the program’s positive societal impacts. The overarching research question is: What are the challenges and opportunities in growing a community-level sport-for-development program in a deeply resource-deprived context? While the data from this research are still being analysed, emerging results suggest some interesting outcomes. Innovative strategic thinking has resulted in the repurposing of scarce resources to create more equitable access to surfing equipment for women and girls, higher participation rates for women and girls, the attraction of high-profile international stakeholders such as the US State Department to support the cause, and the simultaneous initiation of community dialogue and increased awareness about GBV.

Arrivals from 11:45 am for a 12:00 noon start. For those joining in-person, lunch will be served after the seminar from 1:00pm.

This event is hybrid format, please use the required booking button at the bottom of the page to choose either in-person or online attendance.
(Please note that in-person spaces are limited and booking is required, so we can manage numbers for catering and also the space in the seminar room)

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IAS seminars are typically recorded, minus any Q&A sessions at the end, again to encourage contributions. The recordings are then uploaded to our website on a Fellows bio page and/or Programme page, along with our IAS YouTube Channel. If you are not able to attend a seminar live, please do still register as we will email everyone who registered to let them know once the recordings are made available.