La League - Girls' Empowerment through Football

Aims & objectives

Girls’ empowerment through soccer – with a specific focus on girls’ talent building and employment.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Dutch, Brazilian, Nicaraguan, Costa Rican

Training methods used & main activities

- Addressing life skills through sports: practicing life skills on the field, to be used off the field (learning by doing)
- Head, Heart, Hand method to facilitate reflection during or after the game
- Supporting girls' professional plans by local mentors

Outcomes of the activity

Girls have gained leadership skills through football.

First reactions from office staff about the handbook was: “I get enthusiastic to do the activities myself!”

And the facilitators using the manuals told me: “It’s is written in a very clear way” and “Girls are much more motivated than before, they are more engaged and eager to learn.”

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was leading the partnership (Plan in the Netherlands, Brazil and Nicaragua together with Women Win and Cruyff Foundation) as well as the team.
Besides, I’ve developed the methodology and wrote the coach’s handbook; I trained facilitators; and I developed a plan for measuring impact during the pilot.

I worked on this training for 9 months days as a full time trainer.