UN Women and the International Olympic Committee facilitated the opening of sports spaces for 1,236 girls from vulnerable neighborhoods

In Argentina, 60 per cent of adolescents aged 13 to 17 do not engage in any extracurricular physical or sports activity. By focusing on women, the percentage rises to 70%. These data are from the Social Observatory of Sport, which is managed by the Institute of Higher Social Studies of the University of San Martín and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Nation. In addition, of the total number of adolescents who do not engage in any extracurricular physical activity, 74.2 per cent belong to the lowest socio-economic level and 71.7 per cent live in villages or settlements.

In response to this problem, UN Women and the International Olympic Committee decided to implement the One Victory Leads to Another (UVLO) program in the City of Buenos Aires. The initiative is to create physically and emotionally safe spaces for sports in order to strengthen leadership, self-esteem, health, economic empowerment and the prevention of gender-based violence. It is a proposal designed for girls from 13 to 18 years old living in vulnerable neighborhoods.

UVLO emerged in Brazil as a social legacy of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In Argentina, it was thought of implementing it after the Youth Olympic Games, which took place in 2018, and finally took place in 2021.

Globally, Unicef estimates that girls spend 40% more time on caregiving than boys. More housework means less time to play, learn and play sports. Inequality grows as girls grow older, as when they are between 10 and 14 years old they spend 50% more time on caregiving.

In the transition to adolescence, women receive less incentive than their male peers to develop sports skills, have less autonomy over their bodies and face the responsibility of protecting their sexual and reproductive health. Sport, in addition to promoting physical and mental health, is a powerful tool to break down gender stereotypes and roles that generate discrimination, violence and inequalities. According to the Fiscal Unit Specialized in Violence Against Women, about 90% of victims of sexual violence in the country are women. Almost 40% are under 18 years of age.

The objective of UVLO is to disarm gender inequalities and stereotypes and to promote full development in adolescence and a life free from discrimination and violence.

During 2021, the initiative was implemented in the City of Buenos Aires with the support of Women Win and in conjunction with the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women (FEIM), SES Foundation - Sustainability, Education, Solidarity and the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires. Workshops and sports practices were held in 46 community organizations to contribute to the comprehensive education of young women in four thematic areas: leadership and self-esteem; sexual and reproductive health and rights; rights and elimination of violence against women and girls; and professional and financial goals and planning.

Spaces for them

“We started from the diagnosis that there were no spaces for teenagers, in general, in popular neighborhoods. By focusing on the girls, you can see that they were engaged in care or household chores. There were no recreational or sports proposals for them,” says Nayla Procopio, coordinator of UVLO implementation by FEIM.

During the first year of the pandemic, a mapping was carried out to learn about the organizations and see if it was possible to implement the program. Then the bases and joints were put together. In January 2021, the proposal to launch it began to be finalized.

Training for facilitators and trainers began on 26 January. The first phase of training included 10 virtual meetings by the organization Empodera, which had already implemented the program in Brazil. There, the intention was to transmit the methodology of the program and reflect on why it is an exclusive sports program for girls, to think about how to create physically and emotionally safe spaces for the program's participants and how to act in cases of abuse and share experiences and learn from the different pedagogical and implementation of the program.

One of the challenges faced by the program at the local level had to do with the heterogeneity of the 46 organizations involved. “There were everything from clubs that had more structure and experience to dining rooms that for the first time were encouraged to offer activities to teenagers. Some organizations had their own facilities to develop the proposal and others went to public courts or large parks,” says Procopio.

Another challenge was territorial negotiation. “We had to negotiate days and times with groups of men around the spaces. In some cases everything was fine, but in others there were situations in which it was evaluated that what was being generated was not good, that it was risky, and another space was sought”, says Procopio.

An experience

Anabela Rodríguez is president of the Malvinas Argentinas Club, one of the organizations, which is located in Parque Chacabuco. “The girls came every Saturday. There were two groups of twenty: one from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the other from 12 a.m. to 2 p.m. Handball, football, hockey and volleyball were practiced. We used a public court and with a lot of effort we managed to get the community to understand that from 10 to 14 that area was for them,” he says.

Rodríguez recalls that at first the girls, who mostly lived in Bajo Flores, had very individualistic looks. “A phrase that was frequently heard was 'if you don't take care of yourself, no one takes care of you'. In sports, this meant that they did not pass the ball. We work a lot on groupality. At the end of the year the girls said they didn't feel alone and that being together made them stronger,” she says.

Rodríguez anticipates that this month the club will resume sporting events: “The idea is to continue generating proposals for girls and continue working in a gender key”.

What is the methodology like

The slogan was that each neighborhood organization should have a coach and a facilitator. The initiative was implemented by 128 coaches and facilitators. “The program is committed to ensuring that facilitators and coaches are linked to organizations. This is the remaining installed capacity in the territory,” says Daniela Devoto, coordinator of the implementation of UVLO by Fundación SES.

The first meetings took place between March and October last year. “We came at a time when many teenagers had lost contact with networking spaces due to the pandemic,” says Lisa Solmirano, a referent for UN Women.

The proposal reached 1,236 adolescents living in popular neighborhoods. UVLO succeeded in improving self-confidence and facilitating access to information on health, rights, economic empowerment and financial planning.

The methodology of the program is inspired by a model developed by the Women Win organization and is based on two pillars: access to sports in safe spaces and development of life skills. This strategy is implemented through four modules that are given within a minimum period of six months, in the format of a workshop of twenty-five participants per group. In the first hour, the participants perform some sports practice conducted by teachers who have been trained in the methodology. In the second hour, the same group of girls participate in rounds of dialogue, theater, video exhibitions and games, among other dynamics that are accompanied by a facilitator.

After a first phase of implementation, UVLO concentrates its efforts on disseminating the methodology through seminars and workshops and raising awareness among the private and public sectors about the potential of this type of approach to achieve gender equality objectives. “The program has very high scalability and replicability potential. I think that even in the provinces in the interior of the country it could have more impact,” says Solmirano.

On the impacts of UVLO, the UN Women representative says: “With the programme we were able to confirm that adolescent girls are interested in sport if they are offered safe spaces to practice it. There must be more and more sports proposals with a gender perspective. Many of the girls at the end of the program felt empowered and more confident to voice their voices. Another interesting impact was the expansion of community networks. The organizations linked with each other and learned about methodologies for working with this age range.”

The best result: stay together

Magali Sahakian is 19 years old, studying Technician in Socio-Community Intervention at the National University of Avellaneda, is a futsal player in a neighborhood club and was a UVLO facilitator at a center located in Cildañez. She is a member of the political organization La Colectiva.

Fundación SES invited La Colectiva to participate in the program and from the organization they took care of the registration. Flyers were handed out and spread through word of mouth. The meetings were held on Saturdays and the choice was made to practice volleyball.

“In the neighborhood where it was my turn, the biggest problem was that girls had a hard time talking. When a question was asked in the space of reflection, no one answered. As the program progressed, trust was built and they opened up a lot. There were very rich debates, in which much was learned. We were able to inquire about issues that we used to have naturalized,” says Sahakian.

Today the group is still active and that is the best result. Sahakian summarizes: “The girls organize themselves to play volleyball with each other in Avellaneda Park. They are never going to be alone again, they will no longer feel like they can't talk to anyone. Weaving nets is a very important thing that changes your life.”

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This note is part of the Solutions for Latin America platform, an alliance between INFOBAE and RED/ACTION.