Transformative power of sport

Project summary

This project addresses Gender Based Violence (GBV) in 5 cities in Belgium and Spain in 2 main areas of young people’s lives: universities/student life and sports. 

We start with a group of Physical Education (PE) students, who connect 2 key aspects of young people’s life: university and sports. These students follow a GBV prevention journey. From dismantling gender stereotypes to a better understanding of concepts such as inclusion and allyship: we create a safe space via interactive methodologies (including sport) to reflect on their own bias, their environment’s and how this affects their lives and others. Thanks to input gathered via focus groups and digital platform, sessions are adapted to local context. 

And then it is time for action, carried out by part of the students: 'Ambassadors for Gender Equality'. The framework of the actions is inspired by the unique position of PE students (intersection university and sport). There are influencing actions within their own university/city (focus on sport) and they visit schools/sports clubs to sensitize other young people, using sports. They bring change in their own context, and thanks to the outreach they set a new wave of change in motion. 

The project will be developed and implemented in Spain and Belgium. During meet-ups students exchange on experiences, receive trainings and prepare actions. Thanks to these encounters, they realise GBV is a universal problem and the fight for gender equality transcends borders. 

While PE students are the core of our project, we also train sports coaches/teachers on how to use sports with young people for the prevention of GBV. 

Through this approach, we reach a huge group of young people: the Ambassadors for Gender Equality, students mobilised by the campaigns, young people in schools and sports clubs trained by the ambassadors, coaches and teachers, young people participating in data collection activities...