SOUTHPORT (Australia) - FIBA and its partners in Oceania are developing strong female leadership that supports the strategic priority of growing Women in Basketball. Coaches, officials and administrators are provided opportunities to engage in basketball in their chosen field through specific programs.

Programs within the region have been designed to provide development opportunities that provide effective recruitment and retention strategies for females. Whilst also involving both women and men in achieving the shared goal of gender equality.

"Our growth in female involvement across all part of the game in PNG has been fantastic. We are working towards increasing our female participants through creating inclusive programs and celebrating female role models in our country," Basketball PNG President and FIBA Central Board member Karo Lelai commented.

Female engagement programs have been the focus of the TeamUp activity in both PNG and Fiji. In both cases the success with the Federation's female engagement has been the integration with local women's groups such as the Marie Stopes (PNG) and Homes of Hope (Fiji) organizations. In both countries, basketball activities are hosted in conjunction with professional staff working in these facilities and incorporate various discussion sessions for the residents of the programs

BFPNG and Basketball Fiji are just two federations promoting the female game in the region – with many nations in Oceania taking part in Her World Her Rules in 2022.

WiLead, ImaGIRL, Mum's A Hero, Player Mentorships and female coaching/referees programs are just a few of the activities underway or planned in 2022.

FIBA's first female regional Executive Director - Oceania, Amanda Jenkins commented "We are proud of the work we are doing under the Women In Basketball strategic pillar. The programs have been developed to open a number of avenues to support, improve and encourage women to become more involved in basketball." 

Through this, FIBA looks to improve and expand the opportunities for females in our sport and will continue to work with National Federations to do so well into the future through the Women In Basketball strategic pillar. 

 FIBA