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The first day participants share and highlight personal experiences and best practices, giving them insights in conditions for success and ways to overcome barriers. Moreover, participants get acquainted which each other, laying the groundwork for future partnerships. All interested are invited by Nike to put their stories and projects out and 'go live' on internet without costs.
Leeda Yaqoobi, Afghan Women's Network (Afghanistan)
www.afghansports.org
Leeda explaines about her Women sports project in Pakistan and Afghanistan aiming to empower women for equal participation in society. It is important to involve parents to explain the benefits of sport in order to prevent resistance during implementation. By encouraging parents to let girls play sport, they bring positive change and break down cultural barriers.
"Today we are free to play soccer and hope to inspire more girls in Afghanistan to play. We want girls in Afghanistan to see what is possible for them now that they can play soccer and go to school and be whatever they want to be."
- Shamila Kohestani, Captain of the Afghanistan Women's National Team
Felicite Rwemarika, Association of Kigali Women Footballers (AKWOF, Rwanda)
www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1618a.html
Women were the most vulnerable in Rwanda after the genocide. Sport helped them to overcome their trauma and overcome barriers. Girls that have been in the first teams have now graduated and became professional sports women. AKWOF promotes girls and women's rights and self-confidence through sport, especially football. We assist Rwandan women to have a forum for integration and reconciliation. We use sport to promote awareness among Rwandan women about the dangers of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and provide a meeting point between the elite and uneducated women for exchange of ideas. AKWOF trains female trainers, coaches, referees and match commissioners. We are currently working on the creation of the Women Soccer Federation and a professional women's Football Team.
"Genocide left women survivors traumatized and with no more value for life. In 1997, we ladies decided to rub off history and took initiative to encourage women football for unity & reconciliation."
- Rwemalika Felicite, Founder, AKWOF
Emma Ntwatwat, The Kids Leage (Uganda)
www.kidsleaguefoundation.org
Kampala Kids League is a voluntary organisation promoting sporting skills, team spirit, activity and fun for children. There are many barriers which hinder girls from doing sports in Uganda: no female coaches, no role models, cultural stereotypes and also lack of sanitary protection while doing sports. Emma presents their project where the KKL collaborates with a professor to develop sanitary towels made of papyrus -environmentally friendly and locally produced. These will be put into a sports kit that is handed out to girls so they can participate in programs, giving them the freedom to do sports. Kampala Kids League works with child soldiers in the North of Uganda and implements sports programs to get kids back into school.
"Approach commercial sponsors, mix children of different backgrounds and societal status, break barriers!"
- Emma Ntwatwat, The Kids Leage (Uganda)
Seham Ibrahim, Tofulty Foundation (Egypt)
www.ashoka-arab.org
Seham Ibrahim tells how she started the organisation 'Care with love' in 1998, working with street children in a slum in Cairo. Muslim women have civil rights, but in reality, women still face discrimination; and street girls have no rights at all. Aim of the organisation is to hand over responsibility to the street children so they can take charge of their own lives. Care with love has now established the first gym for street girls in Egypt. Girls learn karate as an instrument for self-defense. How this sport was chosen? A street girl said: "I am getting older now and I am beautiful so I will be harassed by many men…I want to learn karate!"
"The deeper you go into society, the more success you have. You need a clear statement to get through. Ours is: 'It is my right to live my childhood."
- Seham Ibrahim, Tofulty Foundation (Egypt)
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