Goals for Girls

Mission

An International Initiative of Girls Helping Girls Through the Game of Soccer

Goals for Girls connects girls from different countries and backgrounds with their peers around the world in a forum that addresses social and health challenges through cultural exchange and soccer. Since 2007, Goals for Girls has used this unique platform to help disadvantaged girls across the globe by providing access to health and education programs taught through the game of soccer. It gives girls an opportunity to break down cultural and socio-economical barriers to create change through addressing common challenges.

Why Soccer?

In the U.S. soccer is providing healthy, engaging team environments for young girls across the country. Soccer teaches important lessons on and off the field that help young people develop discipline, commitment, healthy behaviors, and peer communication among others. In disadvantaged communities across the globe soccer is more than just a game: it is an important and innovative tool that provides a vital outlet to girls who need creative ways to overcome obstacles.

Campaigns

June/July 2012 - "Chicas Dinamicas" Peru

Cusco & Pacca, Peru

Participants
200 Peruvian girls, 10-14 years old
15 American girls, 13-14 years old from Chapel Hill, NC
U.S. Women's National Team Olympic Gold Medalist and FIFA World Cup winner Cindy Parlow

Partners & Stakeholders
GirlSportWorks
Peruvian Football Federation

Summary
This program was centered on enhancing the work of GirlSportWorks whose mission it is to improve the lives of adolescent girls in Cusco by teaching life skills through a free after-school athletics program. Goals for Girls brought together U.S. and Peruvian girls around five central themes: leadership, goal-setting, teamwork, self-confidence, and healthy living.

A grant was awarded to GirlSportWorks to begin working in a new school and to support one of its current schools for another year.

June/July 2011 - SportsUnited Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Goals for Girls coaches Ian Oliver and Jackie Skinner travelled to Tajikistan for the U.S. State Department to train 40 Tajik coaches on coaching methodology, life skills, leadership, and gender in sports.

April 2010 - "Girlz Got Skillz" South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Participants
21 Namibian girls, 14-19 years old from AED's HIV prevention program in northern Namibia
21 South African girls, 14-19 years old from Grassroot Soccer's street soccer HIV prevention program in Khayelitsha, Cape Town
11 American girls, 14-19 years old from two youth select soccer teams in North Carolina and Washington, DC
Members of Namibian and South African Women's National Soccer Teams
U.S. Women's National Team Olympic medalists and FIFA World Cup winners Danielle Slaton and Cindy Parlow

Partners & Stakeholders
Academy for Educational Development (AED)
Grassroot Soccer
Johnson & Johnson
U.S. Department of State, ECA/IV
U.S. Consulate, Cape Town
South African Airways
Namibian Ministries of Education, Health, & Youth
Helen Zille, Premier of Western Cape
South African Women's National Soccer Team

Summary
Fifty female soccer players from Namibia, the U.S., and South Africa gathered in Cape Town for a leadership summit on soccer and girls' health in collaboration with Grassroot Soccer. The girls engaged in a sunup-to-sundown regimen of cultural, leadership, and life-skills activities that challenged to the core everything they knew about health and gender issues, and turned them into role models, able to pass along their newfound skills to their peers at home.

Media coverage
International media outlets provided substantial coverage of the Summit including Seventeen Magazine and journals and radio in Namibia and South Africa.

June/July 2009 - Goals for Girls Uganda "Every Girl Should Have a Goal"

Kampala, Gulu Uganda

Participants
Sixteen soccer players from Provo Utah
Jackie Skinner, head coach and former Uganda Country Director, Help International and BYU research team leader with Ministry of Education, Uganda
War-affected young girls from Kampala and Gulu Uganda

Partners & Stakeholders
Timpview High School, Provo Utah
Uganda Football Association
The Kids League Uganda
Help International
United States Soccer Foundation
Calle U.S. Soccer Retailer
BYU Women's Soccer

Summary
Partnered with HELP International and The Kids League in their work with war-affected young people. Goals for Girls designed a camp curriculum that stressed the importance of goal setting in relation to overcoming harsh experiences and challenges many young participants had faced.

Grants were awarded to:
The Kids League Uganda to carry on their work with girls through street soccer
Local orphan homes to support their work with girls.

June/July 2007 - Goals for Girls South Africa, "Using the power of soccer in the fight against HIV/AIDS"

Cape Town, Richmond, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Participants
Select soccer team from Washington, DC
Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup winner Tiffany Roberts, U.S. Women's National Team
South African girls who participate in Grassroot Soccer, Hope for Richmond, and Ubuntu Education Fund programs

Partners & Stakeholders
Grassroot Soccer
Ubuntu Education Fund
Hope for Richmond
U.S. Consulate, Cape Town
United States Soccer Foundation
The Washington Post

Summary
Partnered with Ubuntu Education Fund and Grassroot Soccer in fighting the spread of HIV. Participants explored differences and similarities around HIV and gender norms through life skills and HIV prevention activities during a custom designed life skills camp.

Media
The Washington Post covered this program in a daily feature online, in print, and through audio and video coverage. This included two major pieces on the program in its "Health" section and daily reports and analysis of impact from the field.

Grants were awarded to:
Grassroot Soccer to carry on girls street soccer league
Ubuntu Education Fund to carry on its work supporting girls with HIV prevention and care activities.