Gallery: From cruel to tool - Samoan sport supporting social solutions

As the world celebrates International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, honouring sport’s “unparalleled popularity and foundation of positive values”, rugby league has selected a new team in Samoa that is expected to achieve greatness, even though many have never even played the game.

In this Australia Plus photo feature, we head to Senese in Apia, Samoa, where hearing-impaired teenage girls are preparing to undertake the NRL’s ambitious Australian Aid-supported Beyond the Goalpost Stars female empowerment and leadership programme.

We visit the school to hear from participants, Samoa’s NRL in-Country manager Gabrielle Apelu and Senese’s Inclusive Education Coordinator, Sagato Vaoliko. It features pictures of the young women playing NRL, teaching sign language to the NRL staff and learning ahead of the programme. Because we have more than 24 hours still to run around the world for IDSDP, we encourage you to use hashtags in all your social media.

To celebrate International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, Pacific Sports Partnerships has launched a video which can be viewed here.