Empower Girls in India Through Sports

The months of June, July, and August have been significant to CREA’s It’s My Body! Programme, with many exciting updates. Thank you to our donors for their valued contributions - without your support, the following events would not have been possible:

From the Field

•  From June to August 2015, CREA and its partner organisations continued to work with the second batch of 2000 adolescent girls in the three states of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), Bihar, and Jharkhand in India. These girls participated in sports training sessions organised at the village level and, in the process, were informed of curriculum topics including bodily autonomy, leadership, resisting violence, contraception, and other sexual and reproductive health (SRH) related issues.
• In addition to the ongoing sports training sessions, a select group of 100 young girl leaders in Uttar Pradesh participated in vocational sessions that involved self- defence, beautician training, computer classes, and a documentation workshop.
• The leadership camps organised by CREA (with support from Dream a Dream) that were mentioned in the last report have been instrumental in developing the leadership skills and capacities of young girls. Since the last report update, adolescent girls who have been part of the programme have successfully led and organised meetings with local elected women representatives (EWRs) and health service providers (HSPs) in their communities with the purpose of encouraging young girls to take leadership roles on issues related to their health, education, safety, and well-being.
• In August 2015, the CREA team facilitated a successful training session for 25 young girl leaders in Lucknow on Sexuality, Gender, and Rights, and organised an exchange and learning programme for 60 young girl leaders from Mahoba, Jhansi, Banda, and Lucknow in U.P.

 Global Conferences/Meetings and Online Presence

• In June 2015, Sanjana Gaind, Programme Manager of Young Women’s Feminist Leadership at CREA and a member of the IMB Team, participated in the Girl Power In Play Symposium organised by Women Deliver (16 -18 June, Ottawa, Canada) as a panelist in the session on Improving the Score for Health and Rights. The Girl Power in Play symposium was held against the backdrop of FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 to leverage high levels of media and political attention around the games. Sanjana Gaind presented and shared CREA's work with adolescent girls (12-16 years) on Gender, Bodily Autonomy, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights through Sports. The symposium space was a valuable opportunity for CREA to connect with other organisations, groups, researchers and practitioners using sports to mobilise young girls and women to increase their leadership and team building skills, to challenge norms of gender, and to improve outcomes in health and nutrition. More information about the symposium, speakers, initiatives and the sessions can be found here: http://www.womendeliver.org/girl-power-in-play-overview/
• CREA’s IMB! Programme was also featured in an article in the Guardian during the Symposium mentioned above, which can be accessed here:                                                                         http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jun/29/football-girls-rural-india-combat-early-marriage-raise-confidence-sport
• CREA Participated in the GlobalGiving Photo Contest 2015 and came in 5^th overall with 666 votes, and 1^st in the ‘Hope’ Category – wonderful news for the team! 

Thank you to all who have contributed, voted for our photo, and shown their moral support – we at CREA look forward to continuing to interact with you in the future.