NOWSPAR to Serve on Ministry of Sport Technical Group on Women and Sport

NOWSPAR has been appointed to serve on the newly established Ministry of Sport Technical Working Group on Women and Sport.

The Technical Group is established to contribute to efforts to ensure women and girls’ involvement is increased at all levels of sport and broadening access to sport and physical activity.

Our Executive Director Ms. Matilda Mwaba will represent NOWSPAR on this platform.

Other organisations include Ministry of Education, National Sports Council of Zambia, the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee.

This group will provide strategic leadership, coordination and advocacy for equity in sport and physical activity at a national level. This is in line with commitments and recommendations to establish mechanisms towards this by the National Sport Policy, Brighton, Berlin, Botswana Declarations and SADC Protocol on Gender and Women’s Empowerment.

Ms. Mwaba also sits on the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG), the Gender Advisory Group of the AU Zone V on Sport and the Board of the National Sports Council of Zambia.

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Girl Power! A Must on Post 2015 Agenda

Sport has over the last few decades grown in significance and recognition as a contributor to the Millennium Development Goals. However, the role of sport in widening spaces for girls and young women to engage with political issues is still underutilised, and we want this to change.

As the world debates the future of the MDG development framework, we believe sport can contribute to engaging strategic parts of our society that are often marginalised, in the dialogue regarding the Post 2015 Agenda.

We are particularly interested in the voices of girls and young women as often, these are marginalised through processes that do not recognise their value and their perspectives and is in many cases unprepared to communicate with girls.

So our role within sport is to facilitate platforms and opportunities for girls and women in sport to exercise their right to sport and through sport, including the right to participate in decision making. This is why we equip girls in sport to conduct advocacy, media and community engagement. Upcoming activities include Day Of The Girl and 16 Days Activism against Violence.

Last week the United Nations General Assembly affirmed the need to ensure participation of all stakeholders in developing the Post 2015 Agenda and girls are a major part of it as targets of interventions and as such should be part of the decision making.

His Excellency Mr. Michael Sata the President of Zambia in his address to the UN General Assembly said ‘Children’s issues including access to quality education, quality health care services at the right time, social protection and upholding rights of all children is critical’ should be a priority in the Post 2015 Agenda.

Further, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon remarked that the new agenda ‘…needs to be rights-based, with particular emphasis on women, young people, and marginalised groups’

Day Of The Girl 2013

This year as we commemorate the 2nd International Day of the Girl Child on 11th October 2013, we let girls in sport speak for themselves and for fellow girls about their lives and the future they want. Because the girl is a force for change and has a right to shape her life, she speaks for herself.

We advocate with girls by supporting them to convene their forums and we continual to connect them with leaders in civil society, business, government and the general public to hear their views.

The theme this year is ‘Innovating for Girls Education‘, we implement the Goal program, in schools, to empowers girls to change their lives and their communities by providing an innovative approach to sport based leadership development that covers critical issues of gender, economic empowerment, health and rights.

As global leaders frame the priorities for Post 2015, we urge them to include views of girls in the planning processes.

On the Day of the Girl, we’ll facilitate a Forum that brings together 20 girls in sport to deliberate on key issues affecting them. We support the priority areas outlined in the Girl Declaration coordinated by our friends at the Girl Effect and we will be discussing these with our Girl Sport leaders next week and look forward to their views.

Proposed Goals for Post 2015

1. EDUCATION: Girls reach adulthood with relevant skills and knowledge to participate in economic, social and cultural life.

2. HEALTH: Girls have access to appropriate health services and possess the confidence to make healthy transitions to adulthood.

3. SAFETY: Girls are free from violence and exploitation and are supported by enforced laws, child protection systems and their communities.

4. ECONOMIC SECURITY: Girls can build and protect their economic assets and earn a safe income. Governments, communities and the private sector uphold girls’ economic rights.

5. CITIZENSHIP: Girls have equal access to services, opportunities, legal rights and personal freedom, and are able to fully participate as citizens of their communities.

Check out an example of true girls’ leadership from our partner Women Win: ‘Pallavi Gaikwad, a netball coach and youth leader from Naz Foundation in India delivered Women Win’s ‘Pitch for Partnerships’ speech on the Clinton Global Initiative main stage. She was not wearing a black suit or a white necktie. She did, however, share the stage with the likes of President Barack Obama, Melinda Gates and Bono.’ WomenWin