Nearly $3million has been pledged by the Australian government to grow netball and strengthen eight Pacific Island countries.
Netball Australia and New Zealand signed a $AU2.95 million four-year deal in Adelaide on Sunday which aims to aid women and their communities.
Australian Netball chief executive Kate Palmer was excited about the significant investment and an off-court partnership with her country's fiercest rival.
"This could provide examples to the rest of the world about how to create social change," Palmer told Sportal. "These programmes could easily be taken into Asia and Africa. There is a lot more netball can do internationally - if we have the resources and governments that back our sport.
"New Zealand has a really strong history, particularly of integrating Maori culture, into netball and we look to that as setting a fine example to us for our indigenous people. It was a logical programme to work together on."
The scheme is part of a $26million Australian investment in sports-related assistance to Pacific Island countries. Other sports including cricket, rugby, league and football will share the pool with $15million distributed over the next five years.
Netball is slowly growing its global game, which is now played in 70 countries. Pacific stars are cropping up more frequently in the ANZ Championship, and internationally, with shooting sensation Catherine Latu wearing a Mystics bib, Temepara George and Sheryl Scanlan have both been Silver Ferns and Australian defender Mo'onia Gerrard has a Tongan family connection.
"We are really excited about their faith in us and knowing we can deliver. Most of those other sports are well known internationally, so for the government to acknowledge that we can achieve this for women is amazing," Palmer said.
"What we need to get out of the programme is health, well-being and leadership for young women. We'll use netball as a vehicle to achieve that and the sideline is it happens to be great for our sport."
Palmer's New Zealand counterpart, Raelene Castle, described the contribution as 'absolutely incredible', but did not believe the investment would be matched by New Zealand's government.
"That's not a strategy of the New Zealand government," Castle said.
"We've had a formal role for six years, but there is little financial contribution. Currently, about 30 percent of one person's role is spent on developing the Pacific region."
Castle said the New Zealand government had a smaller budget, but the difference in contribution to Pacific netball was worlds apart from Australia.
"It doesn't compare. It's like night and day. But this will allow us to have some dedicated outcomes and change the way women get involved in the community," she said.
The Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are the targeted aid countries as they are registered under the Netball Federation.