IWG Attends ASEAN Project Progress Meeting

On Thursday 18 July, the IWG attended the latest “ASEAN-Japan Actions on Sports: Gender Equality” progress meeting to hear the latest updates from the project.

Commissioned by the Japan Sports Agency, led by the International Research Center for Sport and Gender Equality Seijo University (SGE) and in consultation with the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), Japan is bringing together 10 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to promote gender equality through sports.

Focussing on training and research, the goal is to create a society where women and girls in ASEAN countries can safely and securely access sports and enjoy all the benefits that sports can provide, and the initial workshop took place in Vietnam at the start of this year.

On the call, representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia updated the group on progress on their individual action plans, allowing for sharing of information and learning from each other.

Following the presentations, IWG, along with International Safeguards for Children In Sport, were invited to provide feedback and share useful resources with the ASEAN member states.

Lisa O’Keefe MBE, Secretary General of the IWG, said: “It was a privilege for the IWG to be invited to join the call with the ASEAN countries and to hear of the fantastic progress being made across the action plans presented.

“We took the opportunity to explain more about the IWG network, sign-post the participants to our Insight Hub and to learn where their challenges lie.

“The level of collaboration and support between the ASEAN countries is brilliant to see. I’m looking forward to all the action plans coming to fruition and being able to share the learnings and progress with the wider IWG.”

Aya Noguchi, Deputy Director, International Research Center for Sport and Gender Equality, Seijo University (SGE) said: “ASEAN countries place great importance on gender equality in sports and are working to promote gender equality through sports. One of the important roles of SGE in this project is to create an opportunity to promote the efforts of ASEAN countries within the international movement for gender equality in sports.

“This collaboration with IWG is not only a good opportunity to promote culturally oriented efforts in gender equality in sports that are tailored to the regional characteristics of ASEAN countries, but also a great opportunity to share resources that ASEAN countries can refer to in advancing their efforts.

“We are grateful for the collaboration with IWG in ASEAN-Japan Actions on Sports: Gender Equality, and we hope to continue working together in the future.”