Research
As part of our mission to support women and girls' health, we believe it's important to have a deep understanding and evidence base to inform our activities and approaches. We also believe in sharing our findings and experience in order to support others who want to create programmes for women and girls. Please get in touch if you would like to hear about our experience, share yours or discuss potential research questions we might be able to help with. We have an extensive network of women and girls who are keen to grow the sports movement.
Football4Health (F4H) project
For our flagship Football for Health (F4H) project, we are partnering with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to research the barriers and facilitators of sports participation among women and girls. This will contribute to the development of our community-based football initiative to improve physical activity levels and mental health among women and girls in Somaliland/Somalia.
Logo design by Ben Hudson
Aim
The aim of F4H is to develop an effective programme to increase physical activity levels and improve mental health and wellbeing of women and girls, by refining our grassroots football initiative.
How will we do this?
Research: exploring the subject of sport for women and girls with local players and non-players in Somaliland through:
i) Interviews with women and girls from the club and wider stakeholders; producing a roadmap for how the success of our initiative/club can be reproduced and adapted elsewhere
ii) Workshops to map key influences on women and girls participating in sport that will also strengthen grassroots networks of women's clubs.
Training: developing skills in leadership, coaching and refereeing amongst the players through training led by qualified female professionals.
Women's Sports Day to celebrate women and girls' participation in sport. This creates a space for playing more sport and welcoming women's groups and organisations to showcase, disseminate information and share learnings.
Through this project, we will refine our football initiative and its theory of change (i.e., how does the initiative lead to changes in physical activity and mental health), which will help us to produce a roadmap/manual for how the success of our initiative can be adapted and reproduced elsewhere.
Women's Workshop in 2023, facilitator Muna (left) and Dr. Er (right)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
F4H Funder:
UK Research and Innovation, Medical Research Council fund