More Than Just a Game - Sport as a Communication Platform in Sexuality Education for Adolescent Girls

“Practitioners and advocates working in the field of adolescent health need creative interventions to address gender and power, including the use of sport as a communication tool for sexuality education, storytelling and the representation of women.”

This report reflects on the experiences of Grassroot Soccer and its partners in order to share insights and make recommendations for how sport can be harnessed to innovate and improve sexuality education and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly for adolescent girls. Drawing on Grassroot Soccer research projects in South Africa, the report is intended for communities, development practitioners, research institutions, governments, donor agencies, and schools and teachers to help guide the design of future interventions and research on the use of sport in sexuality education.

As explained in the report, “Grassroot Soccer is an international adolescent health organization that leverages the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize youth in developing countries to overcome their greatest health challenges, live healthier, more productive lives, and be agents for change in their communities. Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer to connect young people with the mentors, information, and health services they need to thrive, and empower adolescents to make educated choices about pressing health challenges such as HIV, sexual health, gender-based violence, and malaria. With proven results and a constant focus on research and innovation, Grassroot Soccer has reached over 1.7 million young people in nearly 50 countries with adolescent-friendly health education.”

To give context to the guidance and recommendations, the report offers some insight into the situation of adolescent girls in South Africa. It also discusses the issue of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) globally, and then highlights how sport and the Grassroot Soccer approach, is well positioned as a communication platform for sexuality education. It looks particularly at how the programme uses aspects of sport such as play and games, the language of sport, and the routine and rituals that sports offers to engage with young people around sexuality education.  

The main section of the report offers insights and recommendations based on the Grassroot Soccer experience in South Africa. This section is categorised into five broad themes that highlight the unique contributions that well-designed Sport for Development initiatives can make to improve sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) outcomes. The chapters on each theme include: specific examples from the Grassroot Soccer experience, research emerging out of and informing the programme, as well as recommendations/guidelines for integrating the different approaches. These sections are interspersed with digital stories from inspiring female coaches or mentors which were recorded in collaboration with StoryCenter.

The contribution of sport to sexuality education can summarised as follows (as extracted from the Conclusion):

1. Sport is Engaging: Sport-based programs have the advantage of being fun and interactive. Sport metaphors and language can be useful in making difficult, uncomfortable or complex health messages stick. Sport-based programs are also particularly effectual when they address specific knowledge gaps or assumptions that contribute to negative behaviors.
2. Sport is Physical: Participation in sport has significant follow-on benefits for health, confidence and self-efficacy among women and girls, but must be engaged in and encouraged early in order to maximize those benefits.
3. Sport is Gendered: It is critical to recognize the potential of sport-based programs to have an inherent means to combat pervasive and constricting gender norms which limit women and girls’ abilities to exercise their rights and achieve better sexual and reproductive health outcomes.  Sport can provide a framework and context to challenge dominant gender narratives and open the space for more open conversations about sex and sexuality.
4. Sport is Empowering: Participating in sport conveys more than just physical benefits to young women and girls. It increases self-efficacy and confidence, and builds social assets.
5. Sport is About Relationships: Sport-based programs implemented by trained peer mentors are particularly effective at conveying critical information and building bridges between young people and structures and services that are often viewed as inaccessible or distant.

The report concludes with a look into what lies ahead for Grassroot Soccer.  The organisation sees two key areas that have the potential to be explored further: (1) the absence of positive media and female athlete role models, and (2) engaging men and boys as allies in the prevention of gender-based violence.