Support A Young Girls Leadership Academy in India

                        SELF Academy- Sports. Expression. Leadership. Freedom

                                               1st June 2019- 30th August 2019

                                                   Moving towards Dreams!

In our previous update, we introduced you to Rupam who attended CREA’s SELF Academy in 2018, and her dream of becoming a football player. Rupam attended SELF academy in 2018 along with 36 other girls like her, from the state of Jharkhand, India. Rupam shared her thoughts, ideas and dreams with us in this video (Watch here: link to Grown Up Girls series which was co-developed by CREA and Agents of Ishq)

Today we take great pride in telling you that Rupam has been selected as a football coach at the district level in Chattra, Jharkhand, in the month of July 2019 to train both boys and girls of different block level teams for various tournaments that are held.  Rupam’s courage brought her a long way, from her home closer to her dream of becoming a football player.

 For Rupam, attending the SELF Academy in 2018, was a path for her to slowly actualise her dream of being a football star and rising from her village to travel the world with her football team. Through the SELF Academy she gained confidence, sharpened her skills and learned to connect her experiences with the larger politics around gender and patriarchy which discriminates against girls. She also gained clarity and further built her perspective to articulate her experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Through her perseverance, passion and deepened skills and understanding, she has now gone on to become a coach to train other girls like herself, achieve their dreams. 

SELF Academy builds the self- confidence among young girls and women to express their opinions pursue their aspirations and speak out against all forms of discrimination and violence. CREA is gearing up for its 2019 SELF Academy. CREA’s next academy is scheduled to take place from 15-30 November in Lucknow, U.P.

CREA will invite its partner organizations – Gramonnati Sansthan from Mahoba, U.P Sakaar from Bareilly in U.P, Mahila Swarozgar Samiti from Varanasi in U.P and Sanatkada from Lucknow in U.P, to nominate a select cohort of 12 girls each within the age group of 18-22 years to participate in the upcomiong SELF Academy.

This year the Academy along with its focus on skills training and development in football and computers, the academy will also build the understanding and perspectives of its participants on issues of Gender, Leadership, Feminism and Human Rights.