The Sahel Women's Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project is launching a campaign to mobilize the footballers from the 13 member countries to support the empowerment of women and girls.
This initiative is part of the Stronger Together Campaign "Girls' education and Women Leadership" initiated in 2020 by SWEDD countries in collaboration with UNFPA, the World Bank, the West African Health Organization and the African Union.
The Stronger Together Campaign aims to ensure the empowerment of girls and women through enrollment and retention of girls in school, access to economic opportunities and sexual and reproductive health care including family planning, the fight against gender-based violence and harmful practices.
"I support the Stronger Together campaign of the SWEDD project and all its partners including UNFPA and the World Bank to promote girls' education and women leadership. Girls have the same capacities as boys, let's help them achieve their professional ambitions at the highest level in all fields including professional sports.” Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, FIFA Secretary General.
See the video here.
Mrs. Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, FIFA Secretary General, and 13 renowned African footballers recorded videos in support of the campaign: Steve Mounié (Benin), Jonathan Pitropa (Burkina Faso), Henri Patrick Mboma (Cameroon), Rodrigue Casimir Ninga (Chad), Trésor Lua Lua (Congo), Salomon Kalou (Côté d’Ivoire), Steve Trawally (Gambia), Josuha Guilavogui (Guinea), Amadou Haidara (Mali), Cheikh El Khalil Moulaye Ahmed aka Bessam (Mauritania), Youssouf Alio Oumarou aka Bale (Niger), Alassane Ndour (Senegal) and Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo).
See the video teaser here.
The participation of Mrs. Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, Secretary General of FIFA, Senegalese and the first woman to hold this position at the global level, shows the way for other actors in the world of soccer to commit to the eradication of barriers that hinder the empowerment of women and girls. It confirms the importance of providing opportunities for girls and women to access leadership. FIFA implements strategies to integrate and strengthen the gender dimension in soccer and support the empowerment of women through professional sport. For example, FIFA has launched development programs for women and girls, including training for coaches and referees. FIFA funds projects to strengthen women's competitions and improve infrastructure for female players and raises awareness of gender issues among soccer stakeholders to promote inclusion and gender equality in sport.
"On behalf of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your support to the SWEDD Project through your participation in the Stronger Together Campaign on Girls' Education and Women Leadership. Through your messages, you have inspired thousands of African girls and women to set high ambitions and achieve their dreams in all fields. We are convinced that this is only a first step towards more synergies of actions to reduce the inequalities that affect women and girls.” Argentina Matavel Piccin, UNFPA WCARO Regional Director
Through a combination of communication tools and the involvement of a vast network of influential actors (public authorities, religious and traditional leaders, celebrities and female role models, youth) since 2020, the Stronger Together campaign has contributed to achieving transformative results in the lives of women and girls in the SWEDD project intervention areas:
- Girls' school retention rate increased from 91.84% in 2020 to 95% in 2022.
- 9,360 religious/traditional leaders participated in community sensitization to break the taboo around SWEDD project themes including access to sexual and reproductive health, the fight against gender-based violence and harmful practices.
- 35 national music celebrities sang about the themes of the Stronger Together campaign. The single "Future Leaders” the single released in 2022 mobilized 17 of them.
The Footballers' Mobilization Campaign, which will take place after the FIFA World Cup will help to reach a large number of the target population, especially young people, with key messages on the Stronger Together campaign themes: education and keeping girls in school, access to training, employment and economic opportunities, and leadership. It is also about building synergies with the footballers' foundations to support the empowerment of girls and women in SWEDD countries.
About the SWEDD project
Launched in November 2015 with the financial support from the World Bank, technical support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the West African Health Organization (WAHO), and through the strategic partnership with the African Union, the SWEDD project aims to accelerate the demographic transition, unleash the demographic dividend and reduce gender inequalities in the Sahel Region and beyond.
The SWEDD initiative has quickly become a showcase of remarkable achievements in deploying innovative local solutions supported by global best practices and international partnerships to leapfrog development on the continent while addressing complex societal challenges.
Growing from 5 countries to 13 currently (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo), the project's expansion goes beyond geographic scope to include new strategic partners (ECCAS, ECOWAS) and to reach more targets: From 2015 to 2022, 30 times more target population (Phase 1: 146,066 vulnerable adolescent girls, Phase 2: 4,232,275) and a significant increase in funding, over 127% (from $207.01M in 2015 to $476M in 2022).
Contacts:
Marie Chantal UWITONZE, | SWEDD Communications Lead,
SWEDD Regional Technical Secretariat | UNFPA WCARO | E-mail: uwitonze@unfpa.org
