8 February, 2021, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR: The Irish Embassy in Hanoi supports LRF as Champa Ban Connect partner for the 2020/21 season
The Irish Embassy in Hanoi’s development programme aims to support the most vulnerable people in Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar to build their own capacity and drive their own development. The Lao Rugby Federation (LRF) is the governing body for all rugby activities within the Lao PDR and focuses on developing sport through school and community development initiatives for youth and senior domestic and international representative teams.
The Irish Embassy in Hanoi partnered with LRF for the 2020/21 season as a Champa Ban Connect partner to provide rugby and life skills to children and youth athletes in rural Laos. “Champa Ban” means blossoming flower in the local Lao language, and the programme currently involves over 2,000 young players across the country who participate as part of their local rugby teams. Local youth coaches aged 16 to 25 are trained by internationally accredited rugby trainers, life skills instructors and first-aid trainers to coach teams in their respective communities.
A central component of the Champa Ban Youth Rugby Programme is the Pass It Back curriculum, which combines rugby skills with life skills through four modules; Understanding Gender, Planning for the Future, Staying Healthy and Feeling Safe. The LRF has delivered over 30,000 sessions to over 10,000 players and has trained over 100 community-based coaches since 2015. Pass It Back in Laos has been recognised by two separate external evaluations as “amongst some of the best in the world for connecting sport and development outcomes with significant impacts in quantitative indicators that connect to resilience, leadership, community connection, gender inclusion and safeguarding” and that the programme’s “approach and achievements make it a best practice example of transformative gender programming.”
Vientiane Province, located just north of the nation’s capital, represents the new frontier for the rugby community in Laos, with one of the fastest growing player and coach populations in the country. Since a pilot project in 2018, the Vientiane Province rugby community has expanded to include over 300 players in 24 teams as of Fall 2020.
This partnership with the Irish Embassy in Hanoi allows LRF to organize two teams, each with 12 to 15 players and two coaches. The youth coaches will deliver a total of 34 weekly tag rugby and life skills sessions and train their teams to participate in two competitions with other local teams. These sessions not only equip the players with rugby skills, but also provide critical opportunities for coaches, who are often former players themselves, to exercise leadership. This process of former players developing into coaches and leaders in the local rugby communities is a crucial step towards the sustainable development of the sport in the Lao PDR.
The LRF would like to thank the Irish Embassy in Hanoi for their support for Champa Ban Youth Rugby in Vientiane Province that has enabled children and youth to pursue their passion, obtain life skills and hone leadership through the sport of rugby.
About the Lao Rugby Federation
The Lao Rugby Federation (LRF) was formed in 2001. Since then, the LRF has gone on to gain full Asia Rugby and World Rugby membership and most importantly, registration with the Ministry of Education and Sport (MoES).
The LRF is the governing body for all rugby activities within the Lao PDR. LRF activities are focused on developing the sport through a school and community development programme, supporting domestic and elite teams to improve and developing a sound structure to provide transparent and accountable financial and administrative support to the sport.
The LRF mission is: To provide opportunities for men and women, boys and girls, social and elite players and those in urban and rural areas to participate in the sport of rugby union, whilst ensuring that health benefits and personal development opportunities are realised to their fullest extent.
The LRF understands that this can only be achieved by ensuring that we have the necessary capacities to deliver high quality playing and participation opportunities; this involves engagement with the government, communities, businesses, schools and other institutions to provide sustainable access to participation (playing and non-playing) opportunities.
For more information, please contact:
Phone: +856 21 315 795
Email: info@laorugby.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/laorugby
Website: www.laorugby.com