Providing girls with equal opportunities to exercise their rights and choice in strategic life choices, requires working both directly with girls as well as with the structures and social norms that influence girls' opportunities. Ultimately change will take place within local communities, but can be enabled and supported globally through effective strategies and collaborative efforts. Working within football provides a scalable low-threshold and resource-effective platform for mobilisation and engagement to address girls' lack of equal opportunities and implement effective strategies to empower girls and enable communities to support girls' development, and eventually a more inclusive and equal development in society in general.
Working directly with girls - and social norms in their local communities
Providing girls with equal opportunities to exercise their rights and choice in strategic life choices, requires working both directly with girls as well as with the structures and social norms that influence girls' opportunities. Girls need safe spaces free from social pressure, where they can develop self-esteem and agency with support from a leader and role model as well as a supportive peer group with whom they can discuss and reflect upon issues important in their lives to be able to make informed decisions in the interest of their well-being. At the same time, girls' families, other community members and local stakeholders need to be engaged in the efforts to change harmful social norms and attitudes, widening girls' safe space so that entire local communities become a place where girls are continuously empowered within their community to live a life they value.
Football as a strategic platform for change
Ultimately change will take place within local communities, but can be enabled and supported through effective strategies and collaborative efforts at national, regional and international levels. Changing structures and social norms to enable girls to exercise their rights and equal opportunities, is not easy, nor will change come quickly. Thus, long-term persistent efforts are needed for effective change. Working within football provides a scalable low-threshold and resource-effective platform for mobilisation and engagement to address girls' lack of equal opportunities and implement effective strategies working both to empower girls and to enable communities to support girls' development, and eventually a more inclusive and equal development in society in general.
Football provides an effective mobilizing strategy resulting in regular local activities that can enable change in local communities over time. This can accelerate change by engaging millions of people all over the world and enabling them to adopt strategies for effective change that ultimately will impact society in general. In order for football to become this platform, we need to re-define the purpose of football and how football coaches work, equipping them with leadership and evidence-based knowledge and tools to lead change.
Recognising that football is not played in a vacuum, efforts to use football as a platform to empower girls with agency and equal opportunities should not be isolated from other initiatives promoting gender equality or other broader development efforts, contributing to achieving development goals around the world.