Advancing the playing field that empowers

adolescent girls and

young women

through sport & play

We help girls and their communities.

Since 2006, and thanks to our implementing partners, our grassroots programs have impacted the lives of over 4 million adolescent girls and young women in over 100 countries. Through sports and play, we help them build leadership skills and become better equipped to exercise their rights. We focus our work on three areas that are key to advancing girls’ rights globally:

  • Address gender-based violence
  • Access sexual and reproductive health and rights
  • Gain economic empowerment

GRLS is built upon strong values

Our values guide our goals and decisions. This set of guiding principles and fundamental beliefs help us to work together as a team and towards a common goal:

  • Girls are our purpose
  • Sport is our power
  • Innovation is our edge
  • Collaboration is our strength
  • Change is our promise

We play a

different game

We set out to accomplish our mission by connecting the global movements around sport, development and women’s rights. Our strategy involves 3 main elements:

We establish strong and healthy partnerships with grassroots organisations. We learn from them about the local and cultural landscape of the work and we contribute by strengthening their organisational and programmatic capacities. We also partner with key global players to ensure quality and innovation in scalable sports programmes for girls.

We drive innovative concepts in girls’ sports programmes that deliver our mission. We achieve this by working in close collaboration with new and existing partners to gain insights and explore emerging needs related to sport and gender.

We influence sectors to recognise sport as a lever for achieving more equitable societies. As front runners in gender equality, development, and sport, we are creating a conversation to generate ideas, energy, resources and attention to girls around the world.

Playing as a team,
we are unstoppable

Solving gender inequity is no small feat. We understand that to rise to a big challenge you need a big team. Our intra and cross-sector collaborations with a wide variety of grassroots women’s organisations, corporations, development organisations, sports bodies, and government agencies are essential to achieving the GRLS mission.

Since 2007, and thanks to our implementing partners, our grassroots programs have impacted the lives of over 4 million adolescent girls and young women in over 100 countries. GRLS currently supports initiatives in Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, North, Central and South America.

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Knowledge is power. Stay informed through our news & articles about how our partners, alliances, and supporters are impacting the world!