This week You! talks exclusively to Meg Smith, Programme Director, Women Win about the Goal Programme, Pakistan, that aims to empower women by providing them a combination of sports and life skills training...
This week You! talks exclusively to Meg Smith, Programme
Director, Women Win about the Goal Programme, Pakistan, that aims to empower women by
providing them a combination of sports and life skills training...
Girls and women comprise over 50 per cent of the world’s population, yet they own only 1 per cent of the world’s wealth, have only a 10 per cent share in global income, and occupy just 14 per cent of leadership positions in the private and public sectors.
Training of Coaches by Goal in Karachi
Even though education is the basis, one cannot ignore the fact that economic empowerment is equally important for sustainable development. By educating a girl you are empowering her and allowing her to build stronger economies and improve the overall quality of life. Economic empowerment increases women’s access to economic resources and opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive assets, skills development and market information.
However, achieving women’s economic empowerment is not a quick fix especially in our part of the world. The gender gap is tremendous, but there is a growing understanding that investment in girls and women has a significant and positive impact upon the alleviation of poverty and other development targets.
The ‘Goal’ initiative:
The fact is more than 600 million adolescent girls live in the developing world and most of them lack the opportunities and skills necessary to reach their full potential. Fortunately, many organisations, multinationals and banks are taking initiatives in order to empower girls and women. One such initiative has been taken by Standard Chartered Bank that has started the ‘Goal Programme’ in partnership with ‘Women Win Organisation’. The organisation believes in girls’ empowerment through sport and gives opportunity to those girls who want to do something useful but do not have the resources.
Basically, Goal is an educational programme and through a combination of sports and life skills training, this programme aims to empower and equip adolescent girls with the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to become financially independent. According to Mr. Shazad Dada, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Pakistan, “The bank’s decision to bring this programme to Pakistan is part of our contribution to address issues affecting adolescent girls. This programme is delivered through, our international NGO partner, Women Win, who will train our locally selected partner ‘Right To Play’ to deliver Goal and oversee monitoring and evaluation.”
In order to know more about this project, You! talks exclusively to Meg Smith, Programme Director, Women Win about the Goal Programme. Here are the excerpts:
You! What is the programme Goal all about?
Meg Smith: Goal is an award-winning development programme created by the Standard Chartered Bank. It is primarily designed for girls ages 12-18 who are living in underserved communities in three continents - Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The programme’s curriculum has been designed by the bank in collaboration with the Population Council.
You! What was the aim behind launching the Goal Programme in Pakistan?
M.S: The overall aim of launching Goal anywhere in the world is to promote life skills, financial literacy and overall empowerment of adolescent girls and young women and the same goes for Pakistan. Right now, we have just launched this programme in Karachi and hopefully in the near future we will launch it in other areas as well. Through the programme girls will participate more in sports and play activities and develop improved physical, emotional, cognitive and social development. Goal will also promote gender equality through community engagement with the programme.
You! What is role of Women Win NGO?
M.S: Being the main partner of the programme, we scope for and select new partners, develop Goal tools and curricula, train implementing organisations on the programme and curricula, and we measure the impact of Goal in each country.
You! How are you associated with the Goal Programme?
M.S: I have been associated with the NGO for the past three and a half years. As the Programmes Director at Women Win, I oversee all our programmatic activities globally, including Goal programmes in many countries. I work with our team, other technical partners and implementing organisations to ensure that our programmes have the best possible impact on the adolescent girls and young women who are involved.
You! How do you plan to empower girls through this Programme?
M.S: Basically, this programme teaches girls the critical facts about health, communication, rights and managing their personal finances in order to help them transform not just their own lives, but those of their families, friends and that too through sports.
Goal was launched in 2006 in Delhi, India and reached 70 girls. Women Win has partnered with Standard Chartered to bring Goal to scale and increase sport and empowerment opportunities for girls around the world. In 2011, Goal was implemented in five countries - China, India, Jordan, Nigeria and Zambia- and reached over 18,500 girls. In 2015, we reached over 71,200 girls across 25 countries. From 2006 to 2015, we have already empowered 217,000 girls.
Goal works in urban communities, offering weekly sessions to adolescent girls who may or may not attend school and are subsisting on a low family income. The programme is typically offered on a weekly basis, over the course of ten months. The programme is divided into four modules focused on one of four key life skills: communication, health and hygiene, rights and financial literacy. Girls in the programme spend their time playing sport and participating in activities focused on learning a life skill. Girls who complete the programme and display exceptional leadership qualities are invited to become Goal Champions, who support programme implementation.
You! Which NGOs are you working with in Pakistan?
M.S: Right To Play (RTP) Pakistan has been selected as the implementing partner for this initiative in Pakistan. Right To Play is a global pioneer in the field of Sport for Development. The organisation reaches 1 million children globally through structured sport and play programming in over 15 countries of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. RTP’s Sport for Development methodology believes in engaging children and youth in regular play-based activities led by trained young coaches. These activities are purposefully designed to integrate life skills among children such as cooperation, communication, teamwork and critical thinking.
RTP-Pakistan is working on structured sport and life skills programmes in 14 districts/locations engaging over 160,000 children and youth on a regular basis, 50 per cent of these programme participants are female.
You! Which areas of Karachi have you targeted?
M.S: Goal will be implemented in Government partner schools in Lyari and Shirin Jinnah areas of Karachi where RTP has previous and current programmes. The programme will be implemented in 5 partner girls schools in Karachi and approximately 1500 adolescent girls will be reached on a weekly basis. The target group represents the diverse ethnicity in Karachi; Lyari is majority Baloch community whereas in Shirin Jinnah people from Pakhtun and Urdu speaking communities reside. So, the programme participants will come from all the major ethnic groups present in the city.
You! Why was sports chosen for this Programme?
M.S: Sport is a powerful opportunity for girls to build their self-esteem, courage and self-efficacy. It is an accelerator for leadership development. The ripple effect of that experience continues off the pitch and throughout a girl’s life - sport teaches girls to take initiative, raise their voices and have the courage to take risks, fall and get back up.
You! In your opinion what are the positive impact of sports?
M.S: Sport has a variety of positive impact on girls and young women. Through sport, girls can:
Become physically stronger and healthier and develop a greater ownership and understanding of their bodies. If a girl considers her body her own, she protects it, cherishes it and demands that it be respected.
Develop critical life skills transferable to other spheres of life such as teamwork, goal setting, resilience and communication through constant practice.
Gain access to a safe space to grow and explore, especially related to physical, social and emotional development.
Connect with peers for social support - a vital reference point and resource for dealing with the challenges adolescence presents.
Learn to challenge socio-cultural norms and gender stereotypes at the community level, and society at large. When girls play, they transcend gender limits set on females, which builds muscles to do this in other areas of life, such as education and at a job
Gain access to a positive female role model in a female coach or team leader. This gives girls a vision of what is possible and a caring, supportive mentor to help navigate adolescence.
Explore human difference and get connected to others from a different class, race, caste, religion, which in turn can promote mutual respect and a greater understanding of one another.
Get the attention of the community. When girls play in public, they have an instant awareness raising opportunity to advocate for their rights within the community. Victories, kits, leadership positions can shift a girls’ status within her community - from being a liability to source of pride.
Have fun. It’s so simple as all children have the right to play. Play and sport is important for every individual’s development. The sheer distraction from pressure of growing up is an essential experience that we are all entitled to.
You! Tell us about the local partnerships?
M.S: We have also partnered with Karachi United Football Foundation (KUFF) locally. KUFF is a small local football federation, based in Karachi, working on using Football as tool for youth engagement and community outreach. The objective of KUFF is community development and social uplift of the youth through sports (football) supported by interventions in education, vocational training and preventive health based on the needs of targeted communities. Goal, along with RTP’s regular play-based learning activities will be implemented in schools, whereas girls football league and Goal events (matches, tournaments) will be organized in community in close collaboration with community partners such as Karachi United Football Foundation.
You! What has been the progress since the launch of Goal in Pakistan?
M.S: The school selection for the programme in Karachi has been completed and RTP is in the process of getting the final approvals. The Goal Coaches have completed the remainder of their trainings and have been assigned their respective schools as well. Unfortunately, due to the extreme weather conditions in May 2016, the Education Department had to announce summer vacations much earlier than expected. Right To Play - Pakistan will implement some activities over the summer period and commence weekly sessions when schools are back in session.
