Harnessing Sport As a Vehicle for Unity, Regionalism and Economic Growth

PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT REGIONAL POLICY CONSULTATION SUBMISSION TEMPLATE Please refer to the Regional Policy Consultation Guidance Note before completing this Submission Template. Deadline for all submissions is 5pm Fiji Time, Wednesday 28 February, 2018. Please complete each section below. 1. Contact Details Please provide the following contact details: Name of individual Pacific Games Council or group making this submission: Name of Primary Vidhya Lakhan (President) Contact for submission: Email address of [email protected] primary contact: Phone number of +61408536377; primary contact: 2. Title and Summary Please provide the title and a brief summary of your submission including any key recommendations. Please limit your response to no more than 150 words. Harnessing sport as a vehicle for unity, regionalism and economic growth The Pacific Games represents the largest and most joyous manifestation of the Pacific community in action as every two years they bring together upwards of 5,000 athletes, team officials, technical officials, Head of Government, Ministers, VIPs, media, broadcasters, sponsors and spectators into the host nation in a celebration of the Pacific region’s youth, culture and athleticism. The Pacific Games Council and its 22-member island nations and territories from Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia call on Pacific Forum Leaders to: 1) Endorse a Pacific Sport and Physical Activity Action Plan to maximize the contribution of sport, physical activity and physical education to sustainable development in Pacific Island Countries and Territories; and 2) Establish a regional coordination mechanism to; (i) provide technical assistance to Forum Island Countries and (ii) develop integrated systems for data collection, analysis, policy development and implementation. 3. Key Issues What is the key issue or challenge that you seek to highlight in this submission? In responding to this section, consider the following questions: What is the issue or challenge, and what are its causes? Why has this issue not been resolved so far, from your perspective? Can this issue be addressed at the national level, for instance, by your national government or through your national development strategy, or does it require the collective and regional action of the Pacific Islands Forum member countries in order to be addressed? Please limit your response to no more than 750 words. For over 50 years since its inception in 1963, the Pacific Games and Pacific Mini Games – formerly known as the South Pacific Games – has united the region through sport. Indeed, the Pacific Games represents the largest and most joyous manifestation of the Pacific community in action as every two years they bring together upwards of 5,000 athletes, team officials, technical officials, Heads of Government/Ministers/VIPs, media, broadcasters, sponsors and spectators into the host nation in a celebration of the Pacific region’s youth, culture and athleticism. Thousands more are touched by the experience: the parents and family members who support their athlete sons and daughters; their home based coaches, training partners and competitors; the 5,000 Games volunteers; the scores of thousands of spectators (52,000 ticketed spectators in Vanuatu for the 2017 Pacific Mini Games) and of course the many hundreds of thousands of Pacific residents who tune into the Host Broadcast to savour the Games. The Pacific Games and Pacific Mini Games, recognised through participation by the Pacific Games Council’s 22- member island nations and territories from Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia, comprises a variable and extensive sports program. The 15th Pacific Games held in Port Moresby in 2015 enjoyed a full program of the maximum 28 sports and for the first time ever included Australia and New Zealand by invitation in 4 sports. This program of invitations will grow to 8 sports at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa as the event transitions to being recognised globally as the premier multi-sport event for the entire Oceania continental region with direct linkages to the qualification for Olympic Games and World Championships in individual sports (Refer to attached accord between PGC and the Oceania National Olympic Committees signed in 2014). The Pacific Games sports program includes sports that are synonymous with the Pacific – Weightlifting, Rugby 7s, Boxing, Outrigger Canoeing (Va’a) – and thus widely played within the region, as well as sports that have a more limited participation and are less well established, but are nevertheless developing, like the region itself. The Pacific Games Council (PGC), which governs the event, was established in 1962 by the then South Pacific Commission - the forerunner to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Today, the PGC is an independent and self- funded organisation with an elected board of directors and a professional secretariat which interacts with the myriad of stakeholders: the 22 Pacific Games Associations, the numerous International Federations, the Games Organising Committees in host nations, and Governments. However, the PGC is also keenly interested to ensure that host Governments develop a more comprehensive sports policy to maximise the legacies of delivering the Games in three important ways:- 1. Maintenance and use of the Games associated facilities and infrastructure so that they can last longer and serve more than one generation – New Caledonia’s hosting of the 2011 Pacific Games had a mixture of new facilities as well as refurbished and renovated facilities from their hosting of the 1966 & 1987 Games; 2. Increased sports participation for better health and social outcomes – from developing school-based programs to supporting clubs and national teams; and 3. Improved human resource development through the volunteer’s programs – Papua New Guinea’s 2015 Pacific Games staff and volunteers have transitioned into to the hosting of the 2016 FIFA Under 20s Women’s World Cup, 2017 Rugby League World Cup matches and 2018’s APEC Leaders Meeting. It is a similar story with the typical budget for a country to send a delegation to participate in the Pacific Games. Most countries do use private sector sponsorships and other internal fundraising mechanisms, as well as International Olympic Committee Solidarity grants (distributed by the Oceania National Olympic Committees) to fund large portions of the athlete preparation and participation costs. However, in most cases, Governments provide a very significant portion of the budget. Often this Government funding is delivered very late in the process and in an uncoordinated fashion. A more comprehensive approach to sport policy could deliver much better dividends to Governments from these investments in their country’s young athletic talent. 4. Proposed Solutions Do you have a proposed regional policy recommendation to the issues outlined in your response to Question (3) above? In responding to this section, consider the following questions: What is the proposed regional policy solution or recommendation? Does this policy solution require the oversight of Forum Leaders? How does the proposed regional policy solution address the issue(s) presented in section (3) above? In your view, who are the main beneficiaries of this proposed regional policy? Has a regional policy initiative of this kind been carried out previously? Are there risks in implementing this regional policy initiative? Please limit your response to no more than 750 words. Governments are an integral and vital stakeholder in the success of the Pacific Games. From the supply of facilities and funding by the Government of the host nation through to the funds Governments supply to the travelling delegations, the Games cannot be delivered successfully or grow into the future without Government support. A typical budget to host the Pacific Games is separated into an infrastructure budget and an operations budget. Over the past two decades, donor Governments have been critical in the delivery of sporting facilities and associated infrastructure (upgraded roads and student accommodation). The majority of the operations budget is met through host Government financing, although the private sector (through sponsorships), the general public (through ticketing) and visiting teams (through a daily per diem charge) make up a substantial share of the revenue – at the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games non-Government revenue was 40%. This contribution has the potential to grow in future years as the Pacific Games achieves further global recognition, further integration with Australia and New Zealand, as well as continuing to refine its Host Broadcast program which has delivered the Games to the region’s television screens at each event since the Suva 2003 edition. In 2009, the PGC took a deliberate step towards providing the region’s Governments with a more direct stake in the work of the PGC and the direction of the Pacific Games. At that year’s Pacific Mini Games in Rarotonga, the PGC and Cook Islands Government co-hosted an inaugural meeting of Pacific Islands Sports Ministers. The meeting provided a forum for Governments to brief their counterparts in the region on the work they were doing to promote sport within their countries, as well as an opportunity to promote the opportunities and legacies from a Government’s hosting of the Pacific Games. At every subsequent edition of the Pacific Games, the PGC has continued to co-host this meeting with the host country’s Minister of Sport; for the fifth

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