Just Play emergency program

Just Play emergency program

Long before coronavirus arrived, Just Play, a sport for development program designed and delivered by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in the Pacific region, has been helping children to recover from emergencies using football.

As the most disaster-prone regions of the world, the Pacific has been affected by more than 50 natural disasters since 2009.  With the possibility of devastating tropical cyclones between November and April annually, volcanic eruptions, flash flooding, landslides and earthquakes, the region is on constant stand-by to respond to states of emergencies for any number of countries, at any time.  Ensuring that programming models are versatile and can be delivered on a regular basis and in times of need, is critical.

In 2015, OFC developed and delivered the Just Play Emergency Programme as part of the Vanuatu government’s consolidated response to Tropical Cyclone Pam – a category 5 super storm, which affected more than half the country’s population, including 82,000 children spread across 22 islands.

The Just Play Emergency Program was shortlisted for the Beyond Sport Innovation Award in 2016.  

Read more about the Emergency Program in a story from the archive.