Developing Positive Relations Key For Berenadeta

Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) participated recently in a week long eqUIP Oceania Workshop organised by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

eqUIP Oceania is a CGF initiative  to develop youth leaders through internship and employment opportunities, empowering them to make a positive contribution to communities through sport.

FASANOC was represented by an intern, Berenadeta Nauqe who is attached to FASANOC for this program. Berenadeta is currently enrolled at the Fiji National University in the Certificate IV in Sports Science program.  She  previously had attachments with Fiji Rugby Union’s High Performance Unit and Basketball Fiji.

Berenadeta is an active sportswoman and currently plays Rugby for the Suva Rugby Club.

"equip Oceania’s participants included interns and their supervisors from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea and we were fortunate to learn from and foster positive relations with each other," said Berenadeta.

Berenadeta said developing positive relations between the interns and supervisors and understanding the roles they play in their individual Commonwealth Games Associations (CGA) was an eye opener for her.

"The workshop was also about strengthening the network in Oceania that will promote eqUIP and the Commonwealth Games brand.

"Also about understanding the Commonwealth Games structure, roles network and programs within the organization," she said.

Developing a realistic work plan for the eqUIP interns within the CGAs was also a topic of discussion along with work-planning and networking said Berenadeta.

"We also learnt about communication and presentation skills which will help with marketing and branding and also relationship building," she said.

FASANOC's Sports Development Manager Lyndall Fisher said FASANOC had an opportunity to engage an intern sho would be able to work on a specific project with the help of the Commonwealth Sport eqUIP Oceania program

"We were looking at an intern who can work on a fitness testing programme for athletes whose sports are on the 2023 Solomon Islands Pacific Games program," she said.

"FASANOC  reached out to the Fiji National University who identified a Sports Science student.  

"Through this programme, Berenadeta will gain some practical experience through a 12 month attachment."

The eqUIP Pprogramme targets youth of the Commonwealth and has been running since September 2014 in Europe and Africa.

In 2020 it was expanded to Asia with the Caribbean and Americas joining in 2021. This flagship programme has supported over 90 placements. In 2022 the programme was expanded to Oceania.

CGAs partner with local educational institutions to select the intern and identify the initiatives and projects that interns will work on during their 12-month placements.

The goal of eqUIP is to offer Commonwealth youth an educational and skills development work experience that empowers them as young leaders to become self-reliant and make a positive contribution to their communities through sport.

To achieve this goal the following five measurable objectives have been identified:

• Creating Collaborative Partnerships

• Empowering Youth Networks

• Youth Education and Professional Development Internships

• Employability and Career Advancement

• Raise Awareness through Effective Story Telling

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