Earlier this week girls from Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines took part in the ChildFund Pass It Back Belfast Cup at Belfast Harlequins RFC, competing against girls from across Ulster with a helping hand from some of the Wallaroos team on the day.

Australia’s near-neighbour Papua New Guinea is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a mother and there are signs the country’s health crisis is getting worse, a report has found.

Women in PNG are 35 times more likely to die during pregnancy than women in Australia (1 in 120 in PNG compared to 1 in 8700 in Australia), according to an evaluation of maternal health by the aid agency ChildFund Australia.

Anne Lynam Goddard has been a passionate voice for protecting the world’s most vulnerable children for more than 30 years. Goddard began her career in the Peace Corps in Kenya. After earning a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she joined the international humanitarian organization CARE and lived and worked overseas for almost 20 years.

The ChildFund 'Pass It Back' Belfast Cup brought together girls from Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos with players from across Ulster to celebrate the power of sport and highlight how rugby is developing in Asia. #WRWC2017 #BringIt

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - 5 June 2017: Respected international development agencies ChildFund Australia and iCARE (International Christian Aid Relief Enterprise) today announced their decision to join forces, and combine their decades of experience in delivering high quality education programs for children in Asia, Africa and the Americas.

ChildFund Australia was facing a conundrum. For years, the organization had funded much of its development work by linking donors directly to a single beneficiary, through child sponsorship. But the model had come under scrutiny in recent years, with questions over how tightly donor money needed to be linked to individual children. Moreover, a number of countries where ChildFund Australia works simply weren’t good fits for individual sponsorship, for legal and cultural reasons.

ChildFund Laos is a representative office of ChildFund Australia. ChildFund began work in Laos in 2010, implementing community development programs in Xieng Khouang Province, one of the poorest areas in the country. ChildFund has a strong focus on improving access to quality education, and is expanding its work to include pre-primary education to ensure that children get the best possible start in life. In partnership with communities, ChildFund has also established projects to improve water, sanitation and hygiene, mother and child heath, food security and nutrition, and to provide opportunities for children and youth to participate in local decision-making. ChildFund has a strong focus on protection, child rights, and developing life-skills through tools including sport and multimedia.

ChildFund Myanmar is a representative office of ChildFund Australia. ChildFund Australia began working in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) in 2012, following the country’s shift from decades of military rule to a newly elected government. Child-focused development programs are being delivered in a partnership approach working with local groups and organizations, focusing on the areas of child protection, education, sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation, health and HIV and AIDS.

ChildFund Papua New Guinea is a representative office of ChildFund Australia. ChildFund began work in Papua New Guinea in 1994, and undertakes child-focused community development programs in Central Province and the National Capital District. Key programs are implemented in the areas of maternal and child health, including nutrition, and water and sanitation, education through the Child-Friendly Schools framework, protection and resilience against family and sexual violence, and disaster and child protection. ChildFund PNG has established a Family and Sexual Violence Counselling Hotline which operates in Port Moresby and provides national coverage.

Help support a group of young Lao, Filipino and Vietnamese women embark on a life-changing event through sport and travel.

The ChildFund Pass It Back Cup - Belfast 2017 is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for girls from some of Asia's most disadvantaged communities to take part in an international rugby competition, meet role models, and explore about the role of girls and women in sport across the world.

ChildFund Pass It Back, a unique sport for development program in Asia, has won the UNICEF Safeguarding Children in Sport Award at the prestigious Beyond Sport Global Awards.

ChildFund Vietnam is a representative office of ChildFund Australia. ChildFund began working in Vietnam in 1995 and operates community development programs in the areas of education, water and sanitation, sustainable livelihoods, child rights and child protection, food security, and maternal and child health, including HIV prevention. With a strong focus on building the resilience of young people, ChildFund also gives children and youth the opportunity to take part in sports, vocational and life skills education, and supports their participation in local decision-making processes.

Eight-year-old Khet Khet is the youngest of three girls. Her eldest sister, Ma Nwe, was the same age when she had to make a very difficult choice: she and her younger siblings could go hungry, or she could drop out of school to care for them so both of her parents could work.

More than two months after Papua New Guinea’s strongest earthquake in almost a century, stranded survivors are turning to an unexpected lifeline: a small domestic violence hotline run by a non-governmental organisation [ChildFund].

Although the risks of violence against women rise after disasters, most callers aren’t women. They’re men reaching out for support, enquiring about how to obtain food, shelter, and other services, or fearful of violence that has broken out in some areas after tribal clashes.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 8 JUNE 2017: Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 is set to inspire young girls in Asian communities as the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), World Rugby, and ‘ChildFund Pass It Back’ bring girls from across the world’s most populous continent to Ireland to take part in an international rugby competition.

In Papua New Guinea, ChildFund Australia has implemented the HOPE (A Haus (house) for Protection and Empowerment) project, which aims to reduce the widespread violent abuse of children’s and women's rights by empowering survivors and training human rights defenders. The project has provided a safe refuge center for survivors of violence, better prevention mechanisms and a group of human rights defenders trained and empowered to intervene in sexual violence cases and encourage survivors and families to seek legal justice and medical attention.