our sport &
football-related
initiatives
our BASE PROGRAMME
Every year Girl Power offers year-long sport and educational programs
for three new municipalities, cities or provinces in our target countries.
All the activities are tailored to the selected locations and targeted its citizens.
There are three primary elements to the programmes on offer:
1.
Coaching Programme
for young female leaders
2.
grassroots football programme
for young girls
3.
fitness programme
for women
1.
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
COACHING PROGRAMME
The main objective of our coaching programme is to provide opportunities that help us identify female role models and young leaders to be able to support their development through our education programmes that empowers them.
We recruit potential coaches from the target location, focusing on the age group 18- 29 year olds. The emphasis for us is on female coaches, but we do sometimes provide opportunities for males who are open to coaching women and girls too. Most of these potential coaches will be football players from a local club.
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Our coaching development programme is formed of 3 stages:
stage 1
Girl Power
Coaching
Seminar
Coaches are enrolled in the Girl Power certified coaching seminar and introduced to Girl Power coaching methodology
stage 2
Girl Power
International Leadership Programme
Coaches are enrolled in this programme where they have the opportunity to gain knowledge about how to lead, exchange experience and build a football-based network with other participants of the programme.
At the culmination of this programme, the coaches get two assignments: 1. Creation of their own grassroots girl’s football team 2. Creation of a young leaders’ team where they can continue their learning and development
stage 3
Girl Power
Mentorship
Programme
At the end of the programme, the coaches are offered a Girl Power mentor for one year to help, guide, and support them to continue their progress
2.
grassroot girl FOOTBALL
training & empowerment PROGRAMME
This programme is designed for young girls age 8 -10.
In Europe, it is open to participants from multi-cultural backgrounds which might include citizens of the country and also non-citizens, such as refugees or immigrants.
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There are 4 phases to this programme:
1
Players are offered 1-hour football-based training on two days per week for a year.
2
The training program is a mix of fitness, team-building activities and football skill-building.
3
Guest speakers such as young role models and community leaders offer inspiration and guidance to the participants of the programme.
4
At the end of the program the players will be introduced to a local club to start a recreational football ‘career’.
3.
football
fitness & strength training for women
We are providing strength & fitness training for older women - grandmothers, mothers, older sisters, aunts age 30+ who have limited access to sport activities due to social or cultural barriers.
One of our main objectives with this programme is to help & encourage older women to stay healthy & in particular, to manage their mental health and fight against depression.
The program is led by a female coach for 1 year within local community locations, for example, in Denmark, these activities take place for women in refugee centres and in immigrant and refugee communities.
The programme is offered twice a week for 2 hours, 1 hour of training and 1 hour of social networking, with participants listening to guest inspirational speakers and visitors whilst also having opportunities to share their own stories.
Girl Power
young leaders football tournament
Every second year, all of the Girl Power coaches from around Europe are invited to participate in a commercially sponsored show-case tournament.
Each team have 6 players and are supported by young leaders, coaches, volunteers, and community leaders with a mix of cultural backgrounds and experiences.
There are 4 days of football tournament, using a 5v5 format where players are able to showcase their footballing talent, participate in Girl Power side of pitch activities such as workshops and storytelling where coaches are able to present the results of their work from the course of the year with girls aged 8 – 10, sharing their valuable experiences, learnings and top tips to attendees.
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Our tournaments have a festival vibe, with music and fun and engaging activities where attendees have opportunities to build a network with likeminded girls and women.
WHAT'S THE STATE OF PLAY TODAY?
Loads of great work has been done with both sport and education to make sure women and girls are able to be passionately involved. We have highlighted some of our favourite examples in the Girl Power News page.
However, there are still challenges for us to overcome together.
challenge 1
One of the barriers to involvement that ethnic minority women and girls are facing in places like Denmark and Europe is the lack of network and connection they have with the local citizens. They just don’t know each other yet!
challenge 2
Another barrier can be differences in language, cultural & social norms between ethnic and minority women and local women, which can make the process of integration and inclusion feel difficult, even negative, and at worst these differences can feel more like divisions between two communities.
challenge 3
In The Middle-East, there is often a real lack of sports activities available, especially for women and girls from Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea among other countries. Because girls and women may also be denied educational opportunity in some cultures, they are distanced even further from the ‘mainstream’ connections and networks that can help them feel a sense of empowerment, worth and belonging in society.