A byproduct of the Pacific Sports Partnerships (P.S.P.) transition programme workshop that was held at the Samoa Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee (S.A.S.N.O.C.) office last week was the collaboration between the Samoan sporting bodies involved.

The workshop was part of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade program P.S.P., which was delivered by GHD  at S.A.S.N.O.C. last week.

It was an opportunity for the nine partners in Samoa to self-reflect on where they are as an organisation, and identify areas of priority moving forward.

“I guess the idea behind these workshops is Step One in support we are going to be providing these partners," said P.S.P. Program Manager Ben Howard.

“It’s really about identifying what their starting point is, and where they want to go with their organisations in certain key areas."

The Samoan sporting bodies that are part of P.S.P. are the Samoan Basketball Federation, Football Federation of Samoa (F.F.S.), Samoa International Cricket Association, Netball Samoa, Samoa Rugby Union and Rugby League Samoa.

“We provide funding for them to be able to do their programmes," Howard said.

“We don’t provide all the funding to their federations, but we contribute towards the programmes that they run, particularly sport for development programmes, which is the main focus of our programme.

“They’re all so enthusiastic, and passionate about what they do, so we’re in a really good place from that perspective."

He said there was a lot of collaboration between the federations.

“Because they are all sport for development focused rather than elite outcomes, there’s obviously a common goal to build Samoans and to build Samoan society using sport as a vehicle.

“One sport said ‘We’re not really good at community programmes but another is great at community programmes, so we’re gonna go talk to them'."

F.F.S. Just Play Programme Manager Lynetta Laumea-Edward said it was a very productive couple of days.

“Lots of consultation, it’s really good that we get to share some of the things that we are finding challenging.

“We get to talk about how we can help each other, how we see other sports’ partners."

She said each organisation has the same core goals.

“Unlike the other P.S.P. workshops that we’ve had, this one we were all working together, trying to learn from others.

“At the end of the day we are all developing a sport, it’s all for the children and for sport in Samoa."