In societies affected by conflict and exclusion, sport is not a luxury but a tool of inclusion, social cohesion and peace — particularly important for women and girls, who face additional obstacles including lack of access to resources, family/societal pressure, and risk of discrimination, harassment and violence. Sport can help rebuild what conflict damages: trust, a sense of belonging, and social cohesion.
The African Union recognises this potential by treating sport as a complementary tool for the inclusion, security and empowerment of women and girls — through safe spaces and more women coaches, and by involving boys and men in shifting the perceptions that shape women’s and girls’ participation. Programmes should not be copied wholesale but adapted to the context: a design made for a stable urban setting cannot simply be applied to a rural or displaced community; recommendations included integrating sport into education and social policy, investing in local organisations, and building partnerships across government, the private sector and institutions.
- Good practice: A workshop held by Qatar Foundation in Doha led to a proposal from MISAHEL to target selected fragile communities and support women to build safe spaces there, starting small, evaluating impact, and scaling once effectiveness is proven.
Women play a foundational role in Caribbean sporting culture. The global challenge is less the lack of conversation on the role women play than a lack of commitment and follow-through
- Good practice: Guyana has developed a sports academy with formal criteria distinguishing “core” from “non-core” sports — to qualify as a core sport, a sport must include a girls’ nursery programme. Core sports receive dedicated budget allocation covering facilities, tournaments, and travel costs, with girls placed at the centre of the sport’s development strategy. This was designed to be resilient to political change: a change of government would mean disappointing everyone invested in the policy — making it harder to unwind. Budgetary integration behind such commitments is essential, since government investment aimed at building a movement needs measurable outcomes — a baseline, identified milestones, and continuous assessment — and an open door is not enough on its own; pathways need to exist for women and girls to actually go through it.
Participants discussed the need to promote the role of sport in economic development and supporting livelihoods among policymakers to ensure its inclusion among national economic plans, infrastructure investment and more.
- Good practice: When Basketball Africa League started operations, very few countries had basketball facilities. Since then, the league has created 40,000+ jobs, contributed millions in value-add GDP and there are more courts throughout African countries.