Empower Girls in India Through Sports

Last three months have been very exciting for the It’s My Body program, that CREA implements with its 13 community based partner organisations across the three states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. During these three months, CREA completed their ten-month curriculum with the second batch of adolescent girls, organised a Refresher Training program for trainers we work with and organised sports camps to strengthen the skills of adolescent girls on football. Significant updates from the program are as follows:

• 1271 adolescent girls (12-16 years) from 9 districts of U.P, Bihar and Jharkhand completed their ten–month curriculum based training program on Gender, SRHR, Life Skills and Rights through football. This was the second batch of adolescent girls CREA and its partner organisations worked with as part of its ongoing program. These training sessions use football as a medium to build understanding among girls on issues related to bodily autonomy, choice, consent and leadership, strengthen their skill and abilities to take decisions for themselves related to their bodies, health and lives and demand for SRHR information and services. Over a period of ten months, adolescent girls from the second batch, have developed a deeper understanding on gender, gender norms, son preference and gender – based discrimination. Most of these adolescent girls have now begun to question and challenge oppressive norms and have started asserting their rights. This is especially evident as girls have started negotiating with their families on a range of issues like playing football, attending the training sessions and the kind of clothes they wear (jeans/t-shirt/shorts). Around 29% of adolescent girls have managed to negotiate with their families to continue with their education and an estimated 13% adolescent girls have managed to negotiate with their parents to delay their marriage on grounds of completing their education and becoming financially independent. In addition to this, the demand for health related services have also increased. Around 53% adolescent girls have now started demanding for Iron-folic acid tablets, 34% have started demanding for Sanitary napkins and around 14% of adolescent girls have now started demanding for other health related services like Haemoglobin testing and TT immunization.

“Now I know that it is my right to get educated and pursue studies. I want to exercise this right than follow the plans my parents have for me.”- Adolescent girl, Kiran Bedi Kishori Samooh, Gaurav Grameen Mahila Vikas Manch, Patna, Bihar.

"My parents wanted me to get married this year, but I have told them in strict terms that I want to pursue my studies and want to take up some work before I get married.”- Adolescent girl, Jyoti Kishori Manch, Nav Nirman Mahila Kendra, Madhupur, Jharkhand.

• Training of Trainers: CREA successfully completed its refresher training with 23 trainers from its 13 partner organisations in Delhi from 5 -10 October 2015. The objective of the training was to strengthen the facilitating skills of the trainers and refresh their understanding on issues related to sexuality, gender, health and rights. Using the platform of this training, CREA drew attention of the trainers and strengthened their understanding on the intersections and linkages that exist between adolescents’ SRHR and the issue of disability and caste. CREA along with its trainers also explored ways of including these issues in our broader arena of work while working with adolescent girls. 

• Sports Camps: In order to further harness the skills of adolescent girls on football and increase the visibility of girls playing football in the community, CREA with support from its partner CBOs organised 6 Sports Camps across Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Around 250 adolescent girls participated in these sports camps. On the last day of the camp, an all-girl football tournament is organised that is attended by the local media, community members, local health service providers and family members of the participating adolescent girls. Girls who participated in these camps expressed interest in pursuing football at a professional level. One of these camps that was organised in collaboration with Sakar (Bareily, Uttar Pradesh) was covered in the local newspaper (followed by the photograph of the news clipping).

"We like watching cricket on the TV, but are able to do so only when our brothers are away. We have not had the opportunity so far, but would like to play football. We still face many challenges due to the patriarchal practices, but being part of the group has helped us look at possibilities beyond the confines of our villages." - Kishori Samooh (adolescent girls group), Varanasi, supported by CREA and Mahila Swarozgaar Samiti.

• Supporting field visits: During the three months, the CREA team also planned supporting field visits to 6 partner organisations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and supported them in co-facilitating sessions with adolescent girls and meeting with parents and health service providers. In addition to these supporting field visits, two state level review meetings were also organised with 6 partner organisations based in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. During the review meetings, the partners shared the challenges they experienced while implementing the program and they also shared about the positive changes they have observed in some of the adolescent girls, their parents and community members. During the review meeting, organised in Uttar Pradesh, CREA along with its partners also brainstormed about ways of engaging another cohort of young girl leaders and strengthening their capacity on a variety of vocational skills like videography, basic computer skills, self-defence etc. 

• Other Highlights: In November 2015, Jyoti Bajpai, Program Coordinator, It’s My Body Program, participated in the Young people’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights: Perspectives and Strategies, a workshop organised by Sama: Resource Group for Women and Health (18 - 21 November, New Delhi) as a panellist. She shared CREA’s work under the It’s My Body program with community based organisations from Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha. These CBOs work with the adolescent population on a variety of issues related to nutrition, health, rights and legal issues.

Sanjana Gaind from CREA participated in a training on "Creative Dialogues on Violence Prevention" organised by WISCOMP on 25 November 2015 in New Delhi. Sanjana shared CREA’s work with adolescent girls through sports as part of the session on Alternative Pedagogies, New Capacities. This session was attended by  school, college educators program and training staff of NGOs who work with young people in Delhi-NCR; and selected students of law and social sciences.