SWSF Conducts its First Activity with Girl Rising to promote women’s sports in the region

Sharjah Women's Sports Foundation (SWSF) has conducted its first engagement with ‘Girl Rising’ campaign in their collaboration to promote women’s sports in the region. The inaugural activity followed on from SWSF’s signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the organisation - a global campaign that raises awareness about the importance of educating girls and providing them with equal opportunities at school and in the workplace.

The first activity in the partnership saw SWSF invite girls aged over 12 years to view movie clips, answer a questionnaire and take part in a focus group discussion, with the aim of the workshop being to ascertain young women’s opinions on how to encourage female sports in the region. Among those attending were members and players of SWSF and Girl Rising Middle East representatives.

“This was an important first activity in the partnership between Sharjah Women's Sports Foundation and Girl Rising, as it set the foundation for our ongoing work to inspire women to engage with sports. We invited our members to participate, as well as members from other ladies’ organisations in Sharjah. The session was an important empowerment exercise that gave a voice to young women about what women want to see for sports in their area and provided us with vital qualitative data,” said HE Nada Askar Al Naqbi, Director General of SWSF.

The activity saw the invited members watch brief segments of a Girl Rising-produced movie that extolled on the empowerment of girls in education and gender equality. They then received a questionnaire to gauge their thoughts on the clips, with the questions including: ‘Do you feel supported in your pursuit of sports?’ and: ‘What are the challenges you think girls in your community face with regards to sports?’ Following the questionnaire completion, the attendees were invited to take part in a focus group discussion designed to further identify the factors that could boost women’s participation in sports.

Signed last month (July), the MoU between SWSF and Girl Rising sees the two entities collaborating to advance female empowerment through the medium of women’s sports. The agreement enables SWSF to expand its message by using Girl Rising’s significant resources and global networking capabilities, while SWSF will reciprocate by highlighting Girl Rising’s important role in the arena of women’s sports at its many events and competitions across the region.

“Under the specific terms of the agreement, Girl Rising will produce a short documentary-style film featuring inspirational stories of women and sports, which will be screened across the Middle East and internationally. The input from this first activity will help the organisation in its production of the film, which will be of the same high quality as its existing feature films, television programmes, videos and social media content that have reached millions of people around the world,” added Al Naqbi.

Established by Ten Times Ten, LLC, a US-based organisation, Girl Rising generates and distributes high quality media content for use at the grassroots level to reach girls, boys, parents, teachers and community leaders in order to inspire community-led change. Through its involvement with SWSF, Girl Rising’s mission has now been extended to the MENA region, with the aim of placing girls and women in sports at the forefront of the drive towards female empowerment.

Established by an Emiri decree from His Highness Sheikh Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah in November 2016, SWSF is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness, who is assisted in her role by an advisory committee comprising members who possess a vast body of knowledge in the field of women’s sports. SWSF enjoys financial and administrative independence with full capacity to perform the legal acts necessary to achieve its goals.