FIFA has joined in a collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to fund 16 global organisations through the Sport for Women’s Empowerment programme.
GIZ works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and has chosen the NGO LA Guilde to be the implementor of the financial support.
This programme aligns with the FIFA Women’s Development Programme and Germany’s feminist development policy, which is focused on sports-based approaches to gender equality and fits well with FIFA’s programme for growth in female football.
All these initiatives support the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
The central theme of the programme is to demonstrate how sport would be used as a tool to combat gender inequality, tackle gender-based and sexual violence, or empower and strengthen the role of women.
200 organisations across 30 GIZ’s partner countries submitted project proposals.
From this, 16 were chosen – of which 10 are football-specific projects and 3 FIFA Associations are included. These organisations are spread across Africa, Asia, The Middle East, South America and the Western Balkans.
This is a huge enterprise taken by FIFA and GIZ to expand and fund the women’s game internationally.
It shows the partnership potential FIFA has with organisations and investors that want to expand their programs into the sporting world and their popularity with international organisations and markets, especially if this fits into the positive empowerment of equality in sports within poorer communities around the world.
The 16 successful organisations are:
- Togolese Football Association (Togo)
- Football Association of Indonesia (Indonesia)
- Ghana Football Association (Ghana)
- ENGIM (Albania)
- Together Advancing Common Trust, TAKT (North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Bareeq Education & Development (Jordan)
- Permanent Peace Movement (Lebanon)
- Cleo (Colombia)
- Girls United Football Association (Mexico)
- Anahat for Change Foundation (India)
- Sudhaar Society (Pakistan)
- Action des Volontaires d’Innovations pour le Développement, AVID (Congo DR)
- Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, VIS (Ghana)
- Community Forum Organization, COFO (Malawi)
- Demain Dès l’Aube (Togo)
- Association Togolaise pour la Promotion du Sport pour Tous, ATPST (Togo)
“We are very excited about the huge number of applicants; all of them organisations using the power of sport to improve gender equality in their communities,” Jens Elsner said via media release, Head of the GIZ’s Global Programme.
“I am convinced that the winning organisations will make an impact by reaching out to young people and letting them experience that change towards a more inclusive and equal society is possible.”
FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer Sarai Bareman added via press release: “FIFA is dedicated to increasing female representation and diversity in football, at all levels, on and off the pitch, and this initiative is a great example of how we can create more opportunities for women through collaborating with others.”
In total, the successful organisations list features 10 football-specific projects, four multisport projects, one rugby project and one volleyball project.
