Niger | ASB Foreign Aid

Promoting football for girls in Tahoua

The ASB is supporting the establishment of women’s football teams in schools in Tahoua, a city in northern Niger, opening up a sport traditionally reserved for men and boys in Niger. The project is financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Service and Sport and by ASB Germany and is implemented in partnership with ASB Austria.

The project

Project title: Promoting football for girls in Tahoua
Project region: Tahoua City, Tahoua region, Niger
Financing: Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Service and Sport; ASB Germany
Project volume: € 50,000
Duration: 01/01/2023 - 31/01/2024
Target group: Girls, including girls with disabilities

Public sports are still taboo for women and girls in Niger and women and girls wishing to participate in such events face immense prejudice. This is due to several factors: many women and girls in Niger are not encouraged to take part in sports activities. This is related to sociocultural stereotypes, norms and unquestioned religious discourses, and prevents women and girls from participating in athletic activities. Public sports facilities, moreover, are often dominated by men and boys and are therefore difficult to access for women and girls. In addition, girls often do not have access to adequate sports equipment or to a safe environment in which to exercise.

How the ASB is helping in Tahoua

Promoting girls’ access to football and sport

The project aims to increase girls’ participation in school sports in order to promote their health and well-being, challenge gender stereotypes, build confidence, have fun and foster team spirit. The ASB is active in ten schools in the city of Tahoua in either supporting existing girls’ football teams or helping to create new ones. Five female physical education teachers have been trained and run the girls’ weekly football training. Teams are provided with the necessary materials and every girl is provided with a full football kit.

Creating safe sports facilities for girls

Because public sports fields are mostly used by men and boys, parents are often reluctant to let their daughters play there. The ASB promotes girls’ sports in Niger by restoring sports grounds around schools, providing them with safe and easily accessible training locations. Football goals, benches and huts with sunshades are installed in all ten project schools. In addition, two of the schools are also to be provided with accessible and gender-separated toilets.

Challenging gender stereotypes in sport

The project also aims to challenge cultural and social gender stereotypes in sports and empower girls by improving their access to sporting activities. Awareness-raising measures and lobbying in the form of radio broadcasts and the development of short theatre plays/sketches are intended to reduce social cultural obstacles and facilitate girls’ access to sport. Teacher training also includes modules on gender awareness and on the inclusion of children with disabilities in physical education. In addition, the girls are given menstrual kits and are taught about menstrual hygiene in awareness sessions.

Integration of girls with disabilities

Girls with disabilities are often excluded from school sports, and in Niger, in particular, people with disabilities face many prejudices and cultural and physical barriers. In cooperation with a local organisation for people with disabilities, a needs analysis was carried out in the participating schools. As a result, the project organises afternoon activities where girls with and without disabilities participate in sport. For these sports lessons, the ASB provides adapted sports material and the sports teachers receive training on how to enable people with disabilities to participate in sport.