Gallery: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace in the remote South Pacific Islands

Lewis Keane – Prevention Research Collaboration & Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney

The Pacific Sports Partnerships (PSP) programme is the Australian government’s flagship sport-for-development programme in the Pacific Islands. Through PSP, Australia supports activities to address primary risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases, particularly physical inactivity, and address inequalities experienced by women, girls and people living with a disability.

Lewis Keane is a PhD candidate and research officer with the Prevention Research Collaboration and Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on evaluating the health, social and economic impacts of sport-for-development programmes in vulnerable populations in Tonga, a small South Pacific Island nation. Lewis is also an Australian Volunteer for International Development (AVID), placed with the Government of Tonga as a health promotion officer. In Tonga, the PSP programme supports seven sports – netball, swimming, table tennis, NRL, hockey, football and badminton.  With a population of only 106,000, Tonga punches well above their weight in the international sporting arena, most notably in the sport of rugby. His role surrounds assisting national sporting federations, government departments and health stakeholders to collaborate strengthen and implement sport-for-development programmes in line with PSP strategic objectives across all of Tonga’s 170 islands.

Having previously undertaken roles in Fiji and Samoa in his dual position as programme manager for the international sport and gender-based NGO Cricket Without Borders, Lewis has put together a photo essay in celebration of International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, showcasing grassroots sports programmes across the three Pacific Island nations.

Some of the photos are featured below and the rest can be found on Instagram.