Feel Free: Give Play to Girls Who Need It

Women Win is proud to have published our 2016 annual report this quarter!

In summary, 2016 was a year of evolution, adaptation and transformation. With the support of our programme partners we are able to offer sport and life skills sessions and provide leadership development opportunities for girls in a safe space. Learning from their work, we also co-create open-source guides and curricula, in order to share good practices with a global community. Women Win has reached 444,775 girls in 2016, through our online guides and curricula, our workshops and the direct reach of our programme partners.

Girls can build their knowledge and put into practice what they learn; this ultimately enables them to exercise their rights. In 2016, our 21 programme partners directly reached 68,959 girls in 18 countries (see map page 6). Below is a sample of highlights from three of the programmes we supported in 2016: Goal; Pass it Back (PIB); and One Win Leads to Another (OWLA). Overall, our data demonstrates that girls participate in these programmes because they enjoy acquiring new skills, playing sports and making new friends. More importantly, girls also learn in a holistic way about topics related to gender-based violence (GBV), sexual health and reproductive rights (SRHR) and economic empowerment (EE).

REGARDING GENDER BASED VIOLENCE, WE SAW:

- The percentage of girls strongly agreeing with the statement “A woman has the right to say no if someone tries to touch her or have sex with her when she doesn’t want them to” increased (from 47% to 78%) after participating in Goal.

- Players participating in PIB improved their knowledge on where they can get support for personal problems (from 70% to 81%).

RELATED TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS, OUR DATA SHOWS:

- After participating in Goal, 73% of girls know how to prevent pregnancy, compared to 28% at the start. - Girls participating in the OWLA programme increased their knowledge on a range of reproductive health issues such as preventing pregnancy, STIs and HIV (85% to 91%, 56% to 65% and 46% to 63% respectively).

IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT, INDICATORS SHOW:

- After completing Goal, girls improved their attitudes with regards to accessing and controlling their own economic resources. At endline, 74% of girls strongly agree that women should be able to earn their own money (42% at baseline); 68% of girls strongly agree that women should be able to decide how to spend the money they earn (39% at baseline).

- After only six months of participating in PIB, 74% of players learned about careers and savings.

Developing girls’ leadership is a central focus of Women Win and our programme partners. After participating in sport and life skills sessions, 85% of Goal participants and 63% of OWLA girls strongly agree with the statement “I am a leader”. Furthermore, in PIB we also saw an increase in the percentage of players who strongly disagree that boys and men are better leaders than girls and women. As more girls come to consider themselves as leaders, their new attitude impacts other girls and the community at large. In fact, an increase from 19% to 38% of girls participating in Goal reported their community was interested in what they have to say; for girls in the OWLA programme we saw an increase from 27% to 34% for the same statement. After taking part in PIB, more players strongly agree with the statement “I admire someone in my community” (from 32% to 43%). The outcomes from these initiatives demonstrate once again that sport is an effective incubator for future leaders, as they transition their skills from the playing field to their communities.

Had you met Siasokwe two years ago, you would have met a quiet young woman that never wanted to participate in group activities or speak if many other people were around. However, last year the Goal Programme came to her school in Zambia, facilitated by a local organisation called the National Organisation for Women in Sport Physical Activity and Recreation (NOWSPAR) with support of Women Win. Goal, a sport and life-skills programme for adolescent girls and young women, has helped Siasokwe make friends, “That are just like family,” she says.

Siasokwe just celebrated her 18^th birthday and is now, “Able to participate in sport that she [I] never used to do and she [I] never thought she [I] could do- but thanks to NOWSPAR and the Goal Programme for coming to her [our] school!” She says, “Most girls are not able to come out and talk about things that are affecting us, speaking of myself, I have been involved in sports and I can sit in a group of my friends and talk about anything. I can say I am open now and more confident in myself.” Looking to the future, all she wants to do is speak to other girls about participating in Goal and share her enthusiasm.

The Goal Programme was started by Standard Chartered Bank in 2006 and Women Win joined forces with them in 2010 to bring about maximum impact and reach. Today, Goal is implemented by 60% of our local partners with great success.

We at Women Win believe that every girl has the potential to lead – herself, her peers and her community. Research shows that investing in females produces effects far beyond the individual. A girl multiplies the impact of an investment made in her future by extending the benefits to the world around her: she builds a better life for her family, a stronger community, a more stable nation, and eventually – collectively – a more equal world.

However, girls’ leadership is inhibited when gender inequity remains deeply entrenched and widely tolerated throughout the world. Gender discrimination, already present during childhood, often becomes more pronounced in the transition from child to woman. Limitations placed upon adolescent girls restrain them from fulfilling their potential, leaving them generally less educated, less healthy and less free than their male counterparts. Living as an adolescent girl in much of the world means facing the life-changing realities of early marriage, premature pregnancy, denial of education (especially secondary school), social isolation, female genital mutilation and other forms of gender-based violence. 

Girls are systematically exposed to major rights violations that have a huge cost on individuals, families and societies. Women Win believes that by improving the well-being of girls, we can deliver a measurable, positive impact with the distinct possibility of bringing exponential returns in addressing some of the world’s most complex, omnipresent issues.

It is with donations like yours, that stories like Siasokwe’s are possible.  When a girl is free to participate in school and sports, she has the ability to become a leader in her community and positively influence others.  When a girl participates in sport, she challenges the core of gender violence - inequity, power and cultural practices and beliefs. Women Win is dedicated to equipping adolescent girls to exercise their rights through sport. We want to thank our supporters for being part of their journey!

Links:

• NOWSPAR' story
• NOWSPAR's website