Our girls never cease to amaze us. Their energy, enthusiasm, and courage inspire us to build as many avenues to opportunities as we possibly can, so that they can maximize their incredible potential. 2013 was quite a year for Soccer Without Borders in Nicaragua, a year of firsts and of milestones. For example,
2013 was the first time that...
2013 marked the...
In the year to come we have lofty goals, but our girls and coaches are determined to keep pushing the boundaries by:
If you'd like to see some pictures from the past year, check out the highlight film that the girls watched at the opening event of 2014 at the link below (warning, major amateurism!).
Thank you for your continued support and for following our girls in Granada!
Sincerely,
Mary McVeigh
Links:
Until recently, no one had been able to put a number on exactly how limited sports opportunities are for girls are in Latin America. Recently, the Pan-American Health Organization decided to find out. In a study of Nicaraguan girls and boys, ninety percent of Nicaraguan girls reported barriers to participation in sport. The top three barriers: Safe places to play, equipment and resources, and parental permission.
Soccer Without Borders in Nicaragua has been breaking down barriers to participation in sport for girls since 2008. The result is a girls-centered space that maximizes the power of "team" to empower the next generation of girls to demand access to opportunities...on the field and off.
Check out our new video Rompiendo Fronteras- Breaking Boundaries to see that girls-centered space come to life, meet some of our coaches and leaders, and see the impact that you've made already. Today, please consider supporting Soccer Without Borders for the Global Giving Bonus Day! Global Giving is matching 30% of every donation starting right now until matching funds are gone.
Thank you so much for giving these girls the opportunities they deserve, and for your continued support of SWB Granada, Nicaragua.
Sincerely,
Mary
Girls are scientists. Girls are activists. Girls are athletes. Girls are inventors. Girls are explorers. This week, in honor of the second annual Day of the Girl, our girls are celebrating all of the things that "Girls are..." around the world.
The research is clear: "when girls grow up healthy, educated, safe, and empowered, they emerge as adults better able to ensure their own success and well-being, and that of others." Just last month, girls, communities, and organizations from across the globe joined together to detail the Girl Declaration, to ensure that girls are included in the post-2015 global development agenda. Let's see what SWB Nicaragua does to achieve the targets for the first goal outlined by the declaration: EDUCATION.
Target: "Ensure all girls transition to and complete free, quality secondary school, prioritizing the most marginalized."
Reality: In Nicaragua, public schools are not free; uniform, matriculation, and material costs can be prohibitively expensive for many families. Loss of potential income and responsibilities in the home contribute to a secondary school enrollment rate of just 49% for girls (UNESCO). Of those who enroll, barely 66% complete 9th grade.
What we can do: We are proud to announce that SWB will launch a secondary school uniform and scholarship program beginning in 2014. All girls will have access to free school uniforms and shoes, and can apply for a scholarship to cover school matriculation, graduation, testing, and field trip fees, as well as all materials. Currently, SWB offers free tutoring and homework help to all girls each week, and an equipment and school-supply system that allows girls to "purchase" items using points earned through participation. The new uniform and scholarship program will mark a significant expansion to these current offerings, and we are incredibly excited to share our progress with you as it is implemented.
Today, we celebrate the potential of each of the girls in our program, and every girl around the world. With your support, we can continue to provide tangible support for these girls to realize that potential, a safe space in which to grow, and the skills to make their dreams a reality.
Thank you for your continued support of our girls and teams in Granada. We hope you'll consider supporting us again on the upcoming Global Giving bonus day, October 23rd. Happy Day of the Girl!
All the best,
The SWB Granada Team
Links:
This summer marked an incredible milestone in the collaboration between Soccer Without Borders and the community of Granada, Nicaragua. Through the U.S. State Department's International Sports Programming Initiative, we were able to bring the entire local coaching staff from Granada (plus four other key stakeholders in Nicaraguan girls' and women's soccer) to the US for two weeks of training and cultural immersion. We believe firmly in local solutions, authentic collaboration, and investing in local leadership. To truly provide the tools for local stakeholder to make change, however, takes a much greater investment in their skills, their knowledge, and their access to resources than had ever been possible.
To help support their transition to the US, we brought back several past volunteers as translators and guides. One of these was Ana Cate, a recent graduate of Auburn University and a member of the Nicaraguan women's national team. Ana shared her unique perspective on the being a part of this program and having the Nicaraguan leadership here in the U.S. this summer (published by ESPNW, Soccer Without Borders Changed My Perception, 7/2013):
"As the daughter, granddaughter, niece and cousin of Nicaraguans, yet born and raised in the United States, my perception of the country had always been through what I would describe now as rose-colored glasses. Family trips to Nicaragua were typical: weekends at the beach, pickup soccer games in the yard and nightly movie marathons at my grandmother's house. There may have been a little more trash in the gutters, a few more children in the streets during school hours, a few more soccer balls made out of trash or T-shirts -- all signs of a life different from mine -- but somehow those pieces did not add up in my head. My Nicaraguan cousins were kids having fun, just like me. It wasn't until I had the opportunity to return as an adult that both my eyes and my heart began to put those pieces back together. Kids played soccer with balls made from whatever they could find because real ones were an expensive luxury. Children were out of school because they were working to help support their families. Traveling to Granada, Nicaragua with Soccer Without Borders in May 2010 had started out as an opportunity to combine my passions for soccer and for helping others; I hadn't planned on it changing the way I lived my life and flipping my perceptions upside-down.
The 1999 Women's World Cup was in full swing when I was in the second grade, and Brandi, Mia and Michelle were plastered on every media outlet there was, "anything you can do, I can do better" ringing through my ears. Thanks to Title IX and those who embraced it, I now realize how lucky we were to not only have the opportunity to play the sports we loved, but to feel empowered to do so as well. We didn't have to fight the boys to let us play pickup soccer with them at recess, and we didn't have to beg our fathers to let us play on the local soccer team. We had leagues a plenty to play in, and dreams of using the game we loved to help pay for our educations because that was an actual possibility, a reality fought for by women who came before.
To go from a country with unbridled opportunity to one with a very different reality is humbling. It's a lesson in being thankful for what you have, while also putting fuel into a fire that you may have not even realize was aching to be lit. My first experience with Soccer Without Borders (SWB) in 2010 was like putting on glasses for the first time. The goal of the program is a simple, yet multilayered one: to use soccer as a vehicle for positive change in the lives of young girls in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. SWB provides a safe and encouraging environment to not only learn and practice soccer skills, but life skills as well: responsibility, teamwork, patience, problem solving, pride, commitment. As members of the program, the girls are the stars of the show- there's no one telling them they can't, no one telling them they aren't good enough, and no one questioning why they are there in the first place.
That same year, while still a player at Auburn University, I became a member of the Nicaraguan Women's National Team. Fresh from the airport, the support and compassion of the girls was overwhelming. In the moments where my Spanish failed me, they were quick with a kind word or an understanding pat on the shoulder; it was in those moments that I have never been more proud to be a Nicaraguan. They didn't ask for sympathy or make excuses for the difficulties they faced. They did what was necessary to make it to practice in the 100-degree heat, each and every day, with a smile on their face and nothing but joy and pride to be able to play the game they loved and represent their country.
What struck me was that these girls had gotten to where they were -- representing their country on the national team -- with very few of the resources I had taken for granted through my soccer life. Well-kept fields on which to play, nationally trained and capable coaches to learn from, competitive leagues to build skills, and a university system that gave me an opportunity to use soccer as a means to get an affordable education while playing against the best in the country. I was literally in awe of my teammates' inner strengths every day, as we trained under the hot sun with a goal of making our country proud in competition.
As we traveled to the Central American Games in San Jose, Costa Rica this past spring, I experienced firsthand the discrepancy between the men's and women's programs. When we arrived in San Jose to our hotels, our first stop was at a four-star downtown hotel. As both squads unloaded their bags to get situated, the women's team was instructed to re-board the bus to head to our hotel, a perfectly comfortable place but an obvious slight by comparison. In spite of the disparity, it was us, the women, who brought home a silver medal. We had broken the centuries-old belief that the men were the only ones capable of putting Nicaragua on a national stage.
Last week, I found myself back with SWB, this time in New England for the second phase of the Inter-American Women's Soccer Exchange between the U.S. and Nicaragua. Sponsored by the SportsUnited Division of the U.S. Department of State, this exchange provides an intensive opportunity for 10 leaders from girls' and women's soccer initiatives in Nicaragua to share dreams and ideas with each other, finding common ground. During their 12 days in the U.S. they have learned from and observed many different levels of American culture and sports infrastructure, from the Boston Breakers professional team, to Dartmouth College's youth-day camps, to SWB Boston's Saturday morning practices. Collectively, they have articulated a vision for the future of Nicaraguan girls' and women's soccer. Individually, they have each been given an opportunity to plan and execute their very own action plan, taking the very first steps towards that collective goal.
There have been times in our group meetings where my heart has felt so full of pride for the passion contained in those tiny rooms. I feel pride not only for these future leaders of the Nicaraguan soccer movement, but the members of SWB who have dedicated weeks, months, and years to make it possible. I have seen fire in the eyes of each person as they talk about their program, or their team, or their students, or their teammates, and I can't help but be certain that they are the future. I think this exchange has truly represented what can happen when a small group of thoughtful and very much committed individuals come together to make a change."
Links:
Soccer Without Borders is teaming up with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (“ECA”) SportsUnited Division this summer for the second phase of the Inter-American Women’s Soccer Exchange (“Exchange”). In February, a team of recently graduated U.S. Women’s NCAA soccer players headed to Central America for the first phase of a two-way exchange between Nicaragua and the United States. Players and coaches traveled to three Nicaraguan cities, leading a series of skills and coaching clinics, as well as competing in two showcase games against the Nicaraguan U-20 Women’s National Team. As a part of the ECA SportsUnited Grants Program, the second phase will bring Nicaraguan coaches and leaders to the U.S.. This Exchange builds off of the relationships formed throughout our five years of program-building in Granada, and during phase one, to empower coaches and national advocates of girls’ soccer in Nicaragua.
In partnership with Soccer Without Borders Boston and with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Managua, phase two of the Exchange kicks off on June 19th in Boston, MA. The Exchange participants are an impressive group of coaches, players, and leaders hailing from all levels of Nicaraguan girls’ and women’s soccer. With representatives from public schools, SWB Nicaragua, FENIFUT, and the Nicaraguan Women’s National Team, Exchange participants are well-positioned to make a significant impact on the future of girls’ soccer in their home country.
This phase will expose the Nicaraguan coaches to multiple aspects of American culture and sports infrastructure, including the American university system and collegiate sports at Dartmouth College, recreational youth sports at camps run by Challenger Sports and MTW Coast Soccer, a sports-based youth development program at SWB Boston, and professional women’s soccer at a Boston Breakers practice and game. Throughout their time in the US, participants will learn key skills in facilitation, coaching, technology, and program design. They will also design an action plan to take home, implementing their ideas to expand and strengthen their local organizations and promote the growth of girls’ soccer in Nicaragua.
Follow the Exchange on Facebook or read more on the website!
More about the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ SportsUnited Division: The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ SportsUnited Division leads the U.S. Department of State’s international exchange efforts to bring the global community together through sports. Under its International Sports Programming Initiative, public and private U.S. based non-profit organizations may submit proposals to address one of four themes: Youth Sports Engagement, Sport for Social Change, Sport and Disability, and Sport and Health. Since 2002, the division has awarded 86 grants to U.S. non-profits to conduct programs in 57 countries around the world.
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
