Professor Danny O’Brien - 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. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias