Supporting Girls In Sports
Raising awareness for gender equality in sports by providing girls with a platform for self-expression and providing developmental opportunities for girls in sports in the Caribbean.
What is the purpose of the project?
Aims and Objectives:
- To reduce gender inequality in sports in the Caribbean by educating persons of its impact and disadvantages to females in sports.
- To provide girls with a platform for self-expression where they can share and receive information on everything related to girls in sports.
- To provide developmental opportunities for girls from the Caribbean in sports which will in turn encourage them to pursue educational degrees and occupations in sports.
Critical Success Factors:
- Increased social media following and engagements. We have reached over 70,000 people organically across all social media platforms. This is persons from the age of 13-65 years old. Our main market is the Caribbean with a few interactions from the United States of America, Canada, Europe and South America.
- Received positive feedback from women and girls in sports about platform. We have been reached out to by many sports women and girls who we have highlighted or who have seen and interacted with our platforms.
- Posted content educating people on gender equality in sports. We ensure that we post regularly on our platforms to keep everyone up to date. This includes reposts and information on tournaments, results, job opportunities, successes.
- Host athlete development workshop which covers various areas in sports. It is held from August 11th to August 28th 2021. Our athlete development workshops are based on topics such as Anti-Doping in Sports, Mental Skills in Sports, Nutrition and Diets in Sports, Student Athlete College Recruitment Process, Brand Management/Sports Marketing, Recovering from Injury, Life After Sports and Elite Athlete Development. They are facilitated by professionals in sports and have been attended by various sports personnel across the Caribbean. To date we have been able to reach over 50 persons for the workshops we have hosted. The recorded sessions are uploaded to YouTube. This is a partnership between the Saint Lucia Basketball Federation and Supporting Girls In Sports.
Provided female student athletes with back-to-school necessities. We were able to provide 7 female student-athletes with stationary. Toiletries, sports equipment, school uniforms and school shoes.
Form partnerships with various sports associations and organisations nationally, regionally and internationally. These partnerships include the Athlete Development Workshop with the Saint Lucia Basketball Federation and The Choiseul Smash Women’s T20 Series with Choiseul Smash. The Choiseul Smash Women’s T20 Series was a T20 tournament held in 2020 in St.Lucia for female cricketers. This included junior and senior female cricketers. It targeted over 20 female cricketers.
What were the enablers that proved successful in your project?
The issues which we overcame:
- Lack of support from the general public
- Lack of education on gender equality in sports by general public
- Limited funds for projects
- Limited membership
- Limited resources to amplify advocacy
What impact did your project have?
I believe the project has achieved its objective. It has been able to educate people and raise awareness for gender equality in sports both in the region and internationally. People are now becoming more aware of the issue and are actively trying to work towards achieving gender equality and promoting it.
What were the outcomes for women?
The outcomes include:
- Increased support for women and women’s sports
- Increased awareness of gender equality in sports
- Increased exposure for women and women’s sports
