Country
International
Organisation
TAFISA
Key Words
Safeguarding, Coaching, Grassroots, Equity, Capacity Building
Themes
- Gender Equality and Gender Equity in and through PEPAS
- Empowerment of Women and Girls in and through PEPAS
- Participants, Coaches and Athletes
- Interventions and Programmes
Summary/Overview
The Pathway program is a global initiative from TAFISA and Nike focused on promoting gender equality in sports by providing training and resources to coaches for them to become better coaches that empower women and girls, increasing female participation, representation, recruitment, and retainment in sports. Implemented in countries all over the world, the program tailors its approach to local contexts by partnering with host organizations, which provide coaches with safeguarding training and educational modules to boost athlete confidence and strategies to improve retention of female participants. To date, 642 coaches have been trained in 24 countries, impacting over 19,000 individuals, with an alumni network created to sustain long-term support and growth. Challenges faced include low survey response rates and delays in implementation, leading to key lessons like the need for host organization planning, flexible training schedules, targeted recruitment, and simplified evaluation methods to improve overall program effectiveness and reach.
Problem Statement
Gender equality in physical education, physical activity, and sports contexts entails ensuring equal opportunities, treatment, and representation for all genders. This includes preventing and managing GBV through policies, education, and support systems. Women’s empowerment within PEPAS involves promoting women’s participation, leadership, and decision-making roles. The Pathway aims to empower women athletes to become coaches, giving them the confidence and skills to be better coaches and recruit and retain more women and girls to sport.
The Pathway is currently being implemented all over the world: Malawi, Lesotho, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana in Africa, the Caribbean in Central America, Spain, Germany, and Italy in Europe, India and Fiji in Asia and the Pacific, and Brazil in South America, as well as online sessions. In each of these countries, there are unique challenges to recruiting and retaining girls in sport. In India and Fiji, traditional beliefs often restrict the freedom of girls and women to participate in physical activities. These regions benefit from tailored strategies that engage communities and address systemic barriers. We partner with local organizations so that they can adapt the training to the local contexts of the coaches and athletes in the area. We also encourage the local organizations to teach their safeguarding policies and procedures to coaches, as these are not always clear.
About the Programme
To better achieve gender equity, the Pathway specifically aims to reach high proportions of women and girls already in coaching roles and encourage and empower all coaches to increase recruitment and retention of women and girls in sport. This is done through educational modules that teach the coaches how to promote body confidence in athletes, be a better coach for girls, and skills on how to keep them in sport. There is also a safeguarding module that is tailored to and by host organizations to specifically educate coaches on the safeguarding policies and what to do when there are safeguarding issues. The training also creates an alumni network for the coaches so that they can benefit from the Pathway long term and use this network as they take on more leadership roles.
As of August 2024, implementing partners have conducted 18 workshops, with an additional 7 in progress or planned, covering a total of 24 countries. This effort has resulted in the training of 642 coaches, who are now coaching 19,260 individuals, including 13,482 women and girls.
Successes and Challenges
The implementation was an overall success with 12 implementing partners who all completed one or more Pathway trainings. Even before the trainings, the coaches indicated great interest and expressed a lot of excitement over addressing the women-specific issues in the modules. We have received positive feedback from the coaches that the education opened their eyes to the challenges that women and girls face in sport, and that they are excited to implement these changes in their coaching. We have already seen coaches make changes based on the training, implementing specific programs for women and girls in their areas. The safeguarding modules have also forced organizations to review their policies, creating a stronger route for any safeguarding concerns.
We have experienced some challenges with monitoring the effects of the training directly with the coaches, as we have had low survey response rates. We have been able to mitigate this by working closely with the host organizations to share attendance lists and other information about the training. There were also some training delays with some implementing partners, requiring TAFISA to be more flexible in the delivery timeline. Ultimately, all the implementing partners delivered the program to coaches or administrators within their organizations. There were also some challenges with getting the information into the grassroots coaches. There has been a lot of excitement for the training, and in one cohort, there were high-level officials and managers taking the training because they were so interested, but we did not see the participation from the coaches working on the ground. In this specific cohort, we hope to reach the coaches in this area directly in the next round of implementation.
Lessons
- Require the host organizations come with an implementation plan when joining the program
Some organizations are not familiar with the process of planning capacity building events for their members, resulting in delays and missed opportunities for trainings. When onboarding host organizations, make it a requirement for them to draft a preliminary implementation plan. This plan should include objectives, proposed dates, participant lists, and logistical details. Provide templates and guidance to help them create a robust plan. Regular check-ins and feedback can keep them on track.
Tips: Ensure that the implementation plan outlines contingency measures and considers potential challenges such as participant availability and resource limitations. This proactive approach can also help funders track and manage program progress.
- Be flexible with the medium and timeline of implementation
It is difficult to get a group of coaches to travel and have the time together for a two-day training. Coordinate with host organizations to identify existing events where participants will already be present, such as sports competitions or community gatherings. These events can serve as an opportunity for workshops, reducing travel expenses and logistical challenges.
- Be direct about the target audience for trainings
In order to make sure that this training is reaching the appropriate target groups, this needs to be stated in all communication and planning with the host organizations. Otherwise, the target groups can shift to those easiest and closest for host organizations to access.
Tips: Use participant criteria checklists and provide examples of ideal candidates. Consider including this in the application process or pre-training briefings to maintain clarity and consistency.
- Enable and empower the host organizations to manage their trainers
While TAFISA may provide initial training for trainers, the long-term success of the program relies on the host organizations maintaining active oversight. This helps ensure that trainers stay engaged, project updates are shared, and program continuity is sustained. It’s important that host organizations are equipped with project management tools and guidelines to help them oversee trainers effectively. Encourage them to designate a point person for trainer coordination and communication.
Tips: Train host organizations on how to capture impactful media (photos, videos) and manage social media posts. Highlight the importance of ongoing engagement to prepare for year-end reporting and future program implementations.
- Make evaluation as easy as possible
Our evaluation plan included a total of three surveys: Pre- Post- and 3 Month Post- Survey. We had issues with the Pre-survey being completed by people who did not attend the training, and two surveys during the training was too much for the participants. In the future, we will be streamlining the data collection process to be one survey that is filled out by participants during the training, as well as one 3-month post-survey that will be shared directly with participants.
Tips: Automate reminders for the follow-up survey to ensure participants complete it. Use digital survey tools that are mobile-friendly and straightforward to encourage participation. Keep the questions concise, and only include those that provide actionable data.
Authors
- Rachel Mait, TAFISA Project Impact Manager, Germany
- Game Mothibi, TAFISA Senior Manager, Germany
- Stacey Kim, TAFISA Advisor for Event Management and International Affairs
