Girls soccer in Brazil, changing gender norms

In addition to their regular futsal activities, each one of the classes also received three workshops delivered by our Safeguarding Manager, Andressa Silva through the year which were: "Knowing the female body and its functioning", "Understanding and recognizing violence and abuse" and "Female Hygiene". As the girls already had a solid relationship with their female coach and also as a result of Andressa's great professional abilities, we had many disclosures of violence, abuse and especially bullying at school which the schools were unawware of - even some very extreme situations and it is a tribute to the trust the project has built up that the girls felt safe to disclose and also confident that we would take things forward in a consequential and protective manner. As we as an organisation are well recognised within the child protection and education systems in the city, we were able to fulfill these obligations towards the children.

When the hygiene workshop was given, each one of the girls received a special kit with practical and beauty products so that in addition to learning about positive practices at the workshop, they then had the means to put all of their learning into practice within their own homes. In order to be able to measure the impact of this aspect of our work, we did a baseline survey at the beginning of the year and an endline survey at the end of November when the last classes were being given before the school summer holidays. It is wonderful to be able to share with you the results of questions where the girls were asked to answer on scales of 1 to 5 and, with regard to knowledge about hygiene, 49% scored from 1-3 at the beginning of the year and now 60% scored 5 and a further 26% a 4; regarding body knowledge, in the first survey 46% scored from 1-3 and in the second, 83% scored 4 or 5. We also wanted to know if this change was visible to others in their families and also if through their changed care and routines, other family members had changed their habits. In answer to the first question, 59% told us that either a family membr or friend had commmented positively about them and  58% had observed changes in family members with those most positively affected by the girls being mothers and sisters and, to a lesser extent cousins and grandmothers.

All in all this has shown us how important it is, within our sports projects to be able to capitalise on the bonds and engagement that is built up to work strongly on many other aspects of the girls' lives which will also help us to change gender norms around sports participation and help the girls build up their self esteem and confidence.

The year is coming to a close and we would like to sincerely thank you all for the support given this past year and hope that you will continue with us in 2024.

• Impact report (PDF)