Case Studies

Kim Chi is a young girl from northern Vietnam. She plays for a team called Tomatoes, and rugby is her chosen sport.

Lar is 16 years old and lives in Nonghet District, Xieng Khouang Province. This region of Laos has some of the highest levels of unexploded ordnance contamination in the country. A lasting legacy of the Vietnam war, this means that safe spaces to play are limited, and many young people here have never had the opportunity to take part in organized sport. Lar is one of them.

Among the mountains of Nonghet, in northeast Laos, hundreds of families in small villages make their living as farmers. Here, more than half of the population are among the most disadvantaged ethnic groups in the country.

In today’s world, there are 1.1 billion girls. They are full of potential but are often constrained by discrimination and a lack of equal opportunities.

It is early on a chilly winter morning in Kim Boi, a northern mountainous district in Vietnam. The sun is still hidden behind the clouds and the air is filled with thick, gray fog.

Diep is a Bronze Coach from Du Sang Commune, Kim Boi District. “When the project first came to the commune, my husband and I were quite hesitant to let our son participate; we thought that it might not be of much benefit for him.

Ha says about the ChildFund Pass It Back program: “One part I like very much is the leadership skills. I have never trained and learned like that.

Huyen is a female Pass It Back coach based in Nuong Dam commune, one of the poorest communes in Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam. At 27 years of age, Huyen is also one of the oldest members of the ChildFund Pass It Back coaching team.

Lao Khang comes from a small village in Nonghet district in the rural north of Laos. Her first opportunity to play organized sport, at age 20, was through the Lao Rugby Federation's Champa Ban Youth Project, the pilot program to ChildFund Pass It Back.

Nga is a 33 years old and a rugby coach with ChildFund Pass It Back. Like many of our female coaches in Vietnam, she is also a mother. What is unusual about Nga’s situation though, is that she is the first coach to see her daughter follow in her footsteps.