WOMEN SWIMMING INTO THE FUTURE
Esta inscrição foi selecionada como finalista no desafio
Gamechangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport.
Using sports as a powerful medium for long-term rehabilitation and empowerment of women in situations of crisis and change.
Sobre Você
Informação de Contato
Title
Mrs
First name
ARCHANA
Last name
KAPOOR
Your job title
India Partner
Name of your organization
Women without Borders
Organization type
NGO
Annual budget/currency
This field has not been completed
Localização
Project Street Address
145, GAUTAM NAGAR
Project City
NEW DELHI
Project Province/State
DELHI
Project Postal/Zip Code
110049
Project Country
Índia
Sua ideia
Choose your sport: (check all that apply)
Outros
If you chose "other" for Sport, please define in 1-2 words below
SWIMMING
What approach does your initiative incorporate?
Capacity Building
Year the initiative began (yyyy)
2006
Paste your video code here:
If your project has a website, paste the web address here:
Plot your innovation within the discovery framework:
Barrier
Perception shapes the future
Insight
Embed sports with other activities
This field has not been completed. (333 words or less)
Dê um nome ao seu projeto
WOMEN SWIMMING INTO THE FUTURE
Describe Your Idea
Using sports as a powerful medium for long-term rehabilitation and empowerment of women in situations of crisis and change.
INOVAÇÃO
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Using sports as a powerful medium for long-term rehabilitation and empowerment of women in situations of crisis and change.
How many people does your innovation serve or plan to serve? Exactly who will benefit?
Initially, we trained over 50 young girls and 25 women from the coastal villages in District Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu that were badly impacted by the Tsunami. It benefitted the women in particular, and the entire community at large. In 10 days the women were more assured of themselves. They had learnt a new skill. Additionally, we have trained many of them as instructors. We are now keen to replicate the program and impact other regions too.
Do you have any existing partnerships? If so, please list and describe.
Women without Borders, India Chapter engaged SMART, as its implementing partner. SMART works with marginalized communities and those impacted by disaster. Our work in these villages along the coast of the Arabian Sea first stated off with involving women in economic empowerment initiatives as a means for renewal and getting their lives back on track. But the Tsunami had left deep scars, and for long-term psycho-social rehabilitation, we zeroed in on swimming as a disaster management strategy. To us, it was inconceivable that women from fishing villages were unprotected from the sea. The Sports Ministry of the Austrian Federal Chancellory provided us with swimming instructors and also funded it.The Tamil Nadu Sports Authority partnered the project by giving free access to a pool in Chennai. The Tamil Nadu Tourism Department subsidised the food and pool charges in the coastal area.
In which sector do these partners work? (Check all that apply)
Citizen sector (non profits, NGOs) .
How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
In a patriarchal society women are generally barred from practicing any sport. Post Tsunami, where daughters and wives of fishermen died in large numbers on account of their inability to swim, our strategy was to provide these women with this obvious lifesaving skill, a FIRST for the community.
Traditionally, these communities believed that the sea would get ‘soiled’ if women swam in it. The challenges started from designing suitable swimming gear (T-shirt and track pants) for the women as they were shy to expose their bodies in traditional swimsuits to making the women comfortable with their bodies to locating local swimming pools that would allow us to hold classes for these village women. The women’s self-concept soared as they overcame hesitation, fear of water, and tsunami-related trauma, and learnt teamwork. Over time, we’ve made the transition from merely teaching them swimming as a survival tactic to making them trainers, thus adding to their employable skills.
Impacto
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact
A cathartic impact:female tsunami survivors have overcome the trauma and fear of water;derived belief in themselves and learnt a new skill
What does impact/success look like? Please list any tangible measures of the impact of your innovation
Impact can be listed along various socio, economic, and cultural parameters: a) More and more women now want to learn swimming as a survival skill; b) many want to become trainers to pass on life-saving skills to others; c) women have succeeded in breaking barriers in an area dominated by men; d) the women battled superstition that the sea would be ‘polluted’ if women entered it; e) women gained confidence in themselves and their bodies when they shed their traditional saris and wore swimming gear, even though the specially-designed swimsuits were track bottoms and t-shirts.
Is there a chance that your project could change policy (within an institution or government)?
Our intervention has already been successful in opening up swimming pools reserved for the elite to those living in fishing villages. The increased demand forced the government to not only allow the use of their pools, but to also provide free classes to the village women and children.
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow the initiative or expand your intended impact?
Women in the coastal areas should learn how to swim for their own survival. We have a network of NGOs who can implement our vision. We would like to use sports as tools for empowerment. WwB taught the women of Zanzibar to swim, the girls and boys of Rwanda to play football and the girls of Iraq and Afghanistan to play basketball. We want to reach out to all the girls and women to engage in atleast one sport.
Temas relacionados à inscrição
SUSTENTABILIDADE
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
The project was financed by the Ministry of Sports, Government of Austria. We got support from the local government in terms of free access to the pool and free coaching but not as a state-wide program. We were hoping that any one of the sports companies would take the project forward. We also wanted the Government of India to use this pilot as a success story and incorporate sports for women in their empowerment programs.
Financing source
Annual budget
40,000 euros (including cost of trainers from Austria, boarding, lodging, local travel, swimming costumes, snacks, manuals, payment for pool)
Annual revenue generated
NONE
Number of staff (full-time, part-time, volunteers)
4 trainers from Austria
2 Representatives from Women without Borders, Austria
4 Representatives from SMART, India
2 Local mobilisers
4 volunteers
What are the main barriers to financing your initiative, and how do you plan to address these barriers?
1. Attitudinal Change: Through sharing of success stories and examples
2. Availability of pools: By getting government to sponsor pools
3. Fundraising: By getting companies like Nike to sponsor
What are the major challenges with regards to partnerships?
Convincing people that sports is an important tool for team building, confidence building and change. Basically ATTITUDE IS A PROBLEM
A História
What stage is your project?
Completed project.
What was the motivation or defining moment that led to create this innovation? Tell us the story.
A March 2005 study by Oxfam proved that the Tsunami took the lives of four times as many women as men, basically because the former did not know how to swim to save their lives. The idea was to do a pilot project and then take it up on a large scale.
Please tell us about the social innovator behind this initiative
Dr Edit Schlaffer, founder and Chair of Women without Borders, Vienna. A sociologist and an innovator of several programs that have used sports to build confidence of target groups. Dr Schlaffer has used Football as a tool in Rwanda; Basketball in Iraq, and Afghanistan; Swimming in India and Zanzibar to build team spirit, overcome inhibitions and to raise self esteem.
Check www.women-without-borders.org.
(Optional) To be eligible for an additional prize, please select age range
27 or older
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Comentários
WWB,
Thanks for the work that you are doing! Your video was really informative + inspiring. With the success you've had in overcoming the barrier of sport's value for women, what's your vision for the program? At your swimming gatherings/lessons, do you ever address other topical/relevant subjects for the women of the coastal villages? It seems like you have quite an opportunity to address other issues/concerns.
All the best for this competition, Well done + Congratulations!
kevin carroll katalyst
Thank you so much for your appreciation of our project. We want each and every girl to engage in atleast one sport. Many communities in India keep the girls covered from head to toe. Raising a hand is also a tabboo. We want girls to be comfortable with their bodies and be confident and proud to be a woman. I think sports really helps in that. Of course swimming was also a way to get the women out. We used this time as an opportunity to talk about many issues, including- education, leadership, health and most importantly self esteem
thank again for your best wishes
archana
Your innovative initiative to use sports to bring about a change seems the only way to do it. Yet I cant think of any one who has used such a simple tool to bring change, self esteem and happiness in the lives of the community. It surely is to me a very positive development and I hope to see more of such efforts in India. But have you ever revisited the are and met with your students to see if they continue to use their skills and find time to swim?
kalpana gupta
kalpanagupta@pnb.co.in
Dear kalpana,
I am really glad that you appreciate the project. Your email id reflects the name of a renowned public sector bank. If you are from PNB then Banks like yours can also look at funding such projects as part of your CSR . Yes we have visited the villages a few times. The girls in Chennai continued with their swimming classes and the pool was available to them for free. However the women in the villages did not have access to the pool as it was in a resort and during the tourist seasons they are booked. However they practice their swimming in the shallow parts of the sea, when the men are out fishing. They have shown an interest in life saving skills. But we have not been able to get the funding.
best
archana
A very inspiring venture.To be able to break the barriers and taboo attached to the women and be able to get them out of their secluded existence is realy a very remarkable feat. One can easily gauge the hard work , your perseverence and determination that must have gone into bringing about such a change in the attitude and thinking of the society. I am sure that you will be an inspiration for many others.
shefali
dreamdeepseas@gmail.com
An excellent endeavour to bring change in attitude & mindsets. Taking postive steps & action is the only solution to all problems & that is what has been done by teaching swimming to women post tsunami.Excellent work.Keep it up!
vandana
vandana@infotreeservice.com
Bravo!
Great project you have.
I agree with you that the key issues in participation is access to facilities for sport.
Its a key learning to share with others about making sport available to women and girls by fitting in as much as possible into the cultural structure of the community.
How do you work with the various age groups, do the women bring their girl children or is the programme only for the adult women?
Look forward to hearing more about it.
Lombe
Thanks Lombe. Trust is a very important factor in any such venture. We had won the confidence of our target group. The mothers and fathers of the children would at times reach the pool at 6 am. An hour before the training session began! The children were given breakfast after the swimming session along with their guardians and were dropped to school.The parents were as excited as the children and would have also jumped in the pool given a chance!I cant forget the look of pride on their faces when their children could swim the length and breadth of the pool. The women in the coastal areas were also picked up from the villages and dropped back. At times they were accompanied by their children.
tks
archana
Hi WWB,
Welcome to the online community! Thank you for entering this competition.
You've named several interesting opportunities for expanding and building your sustainability plan to move beyond the region where you are currently and I'm interested to learn more about those plans. You've talked about using any type of sport, i.e., football in Iraq, other sports in Africa, etc. It seems like you've honed a very unique skill and expertise in promoting swimming - why are you expanding to other sports when it seems that you have an obvious gift to share with other communities in dire need of swimming as a tool for social change? I'd love to know more.
Thanks for entering,
Stephani
Nike
Archana,
Your project is inspiring! It is great that you are focused on swimming and to open the pools to anyone not just the elite.
I would like to invite you to join the Women Win group. Women Win is the first ever international women’s fund that supports sport and physical activities as instruments for social change and women’s empowerment.
Women Win will use the competition to find a fellow between the ages of 15 and 65 years old that positively change the lives of women and girls in their community through sports.
We would love to hear your opinion on the topics discussed. To be part of the group, go to http://sportforchange.changemakers.com/en-us/group/womenwin and click join group.
Renata
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