Girls in the Lead - Empowerment through sports

Happy fall! 

After a successful spring, marked by our second Sexual Health and Education webinar, we decided to take some time to regroup.

It is extremely important to us that we provide resources and programs that are the most beneficial to organizations around the world. It is with this in mind that we made the decision to take the summer to brainstorm new ways we can provide value. 

We are gearing up for a busy winter, and we are excited to announce new projects and events soon. In the meantime, please check out recordings of past events on our website!

Stay tuned for our announcements! We thank you for your continued support

Warm wishes, 

Girls in the Lead

The last few months have been great ones here at Girls in the Lead. After the amazing response we got from our November webinar on Sexual Health Education and Sports for Development, we decided to host another event covering the same topic. Our attendees felt that the topic was a very important one, and, based on the feedback we got, we felt it was imperative to host another. We welcomed back Jane Wallis from The Grassroot Project to speak again, along with Brennan Keiser from the Minga Foundation. The two speakers shared fantastic presentations on the programming their organizations have done to use sports to teach sexual health topics. They detailed what the programs were and what the impact they had was. Both of the speaker presentations can be found on our website.

In addition, we invited participants into breakout rooms where they had an opportunity to ask the speakers questions in a more intimate setting. The discussion this sparked was amazing, with participants sharing some of their work and asking how they can incorporate similar programming. Some feedback we got from attendees was that the event was “a dream come true,” with many learning how sports can be used as a tool to address serious topics that may be uncomfortable to talk about, and what techniques should be used to do so.

These types of connections fostered by Girls in the Lead’s events are so valuable, and we are looking to create a platform so these relationships can develop outside of our webinars. Girls in the Lead is creating a community page where people can connect with others doing work in this space, share ideas, and develop valuable programming to support girls’ confidence and self-esteem. We will post questions, polls, and current events to spark discussion, and share resources to promote programming. We will also encourage members to post their own questions, seek feedback on their programs, and start discussions about what is important in their organizations. This new initiative, in addition to our webinars, will ensure that Girls In The Lead continues to promote connections and bolster programming in the sports for development space.

With sporty warm wishes,

Girls in the Lead

We finished year 2021 with a webinar on Sexual Health Education and Sport For Development, which gathered over 90 activists, nonprofits, policymakers, and researchers from around the world together to discuss how they use sports for development to increase reproductive justice. The webinar included best practices and brainstorming of next steps around program design and policy development. The recording of the webinar is available here.

We are glad to announce that our next webinar will delve deeper into the same topic! Our next event, Sexual Health Education and Sports for Development: Part II, held on February 10th, will hold a conversation on how to develop and combine Sexual Health Education and Sports for Development into a fulfilling program. Details of speakers and program to come so stay tuned! Register for the event here. 

With your support, we are able to gather international practitioners together to learn, share and collaborate together to strengthen sport for development organizations. The webinars provide networking opportunities to foster the South to North transfer of knowledge and skills and boost joint efforts for a sustainable and equal world.

All our webinar recordings are available to watch here. Follow our work onfacebook,instagram and linkedin to stay tuned for future events and workshops with Girls in the Lead - we will continue to grow our outreach of 15000 girls and women across the globe. Thank you so much for your support!

With sporty wishes,

Girls in the Lead Team

Autumn greetings from Girls in the Lead!

This fall we are planning to offer webinars for the North and South America time zones with a focus on equity and access to physical activity and health. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on facebook, instagram and linkedin to stay tuned!

Girls in the Lead launched a thematic webinar series in December 2020 aiming to address current topics in sport for development. The webinars offer a range of themes on Trans and Queer Themes in Girls’ Sports Clubs, Gender and Sexual Identity in Girls' Sports, Sports for Development and Social Business, Advocacy and Policymaking and Safeguarding Children and Youth in Sport for Development Organizations. All the webinar recordings can be watched here. 

With your support, we gathered over 500 international practitioners together to learn, share and collaborate together to strengthen sport for development organizations. The webinars provided networking opportunities to foster the South to North transfer of knowledge and skills and boost joint efforts for a sustainable and equal world. Learn more about our webinars on sportanddev. 

You help us continue to grow our community and centralize work in sport for development. Our platform helps scale the best ideas and accelerate transformation of the sports for development landscape to be more focused on gender, impact and resiliency. 

Stay tuned for future events and workshops with Girls in the Lead - we will continue to grow our outreach of 15000 girls and women across the globe. Thank you so much for your support!

With sporty wishes,

Girls in the Lead Team

"Girls in the Lead provides great learning and networking opportunities - not only through their really engaging webinar series, but also thanks to all the great resources and knowledge they are sharing. I really appreciate their intersectional lens and focus on elevating and empowering each other - we need more of this in the sports world."

-Women's Flat Track Derby Association