In brief

Girl Determined works – through volleyball – to equip girls with the skills, confidence and support system to navigate Myanmar’s changing landscape, increasing their access to new potential benefits, while avoiding the growing number of pitfalls.

Without the sport programmes, the majority of the beneficiaries have no other access to any organised or team sports. As well, many of the young women coaches Girl Determined hires and trains have never played a team sport, much less thought about what it means to be a coach. In the past decade, Girl Determined has seen the social and cultural barriers keeping girls from sports, such as wearing trousers instead of skirts/sarongs, doing certain kinds of physical movements considered improper or not suitable for girls, and using their voices to shout out for the ball or make loud noises to express their emotions. Girl Determined has also seen girls overcome these barriers and embrace new practices and behaviours as part of their own individual and group growth.

Problem to be tackled

In a country of 55 million, a young and diverse population is coming to terms with a dire situation after a short period of semi-democratic governance followed by an authoritarian power-grab by the military junta. Since the 2021-coup d’état, organised resistance has been fighting back against the junta. All of this plus gross mismanagement of public services by the junta has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being displaced, increasing poverty, bouts of armed conflict, and broad concern about the future.

Local partner

Girl Determined works to help girls realise their own individual and group potential. They reach girls aged 12-17 in rural and urban communities across the country with weekly “Colorful Girls’ programming” that increases girls’ ability to participate in their world. Adolescent girls from different ethnic and religious backgrounds come together to grow their access to education, health knowledge, participation in decision-making and personal development. While struggling with restrictive gendered stereotypes, poverty, dangerous labour, violence, displacement, and early marriage, girls are gaining critical skills and confidence to assert their needs and develop plans to improve their lives. Girl Determined is sparking a movement of girls with leadership skills to advocate for their own rights and a future that does not re-create the risks they now face.

“Colorful Girls Circles”

The “Colorful Girls Circles” serve as weekly opportunities for teenage girls to meet with their peers and have meaningful interactions through guided discussions and play-based activities using the sport of volleyball. Here, girls can safely express themselves and learn life-skills and leadership, while gaining confidence and growing their own strengths. Younger girls look forward to being part of the programme and older girls say they wish to keep playing for longer.

Beneficiaries

“Colorful Girls Circles” are comprised of girls aged 12-17 from poor or low socio-economic backgrounds; many have been sent to live in a monastic centre or boarding house to attend free or low-cost education because their families cannot provide for them or because education opportunities are limited in their own home villages; as a result, these girls are often quite cut-off from their families and home communities, some girls return home over the summer to help out on family farms, while others go years without returning home or receiving any contact.

SOL’s contribution

With the continued support from The SOL Foundation, Girl Determined is able to further implement and scale the “Colorful Girls’ Volleyball Circles” nation-wide by providing weekly opportunities using volleyball with the primary goal to help create a younger generation of active girls and young women who have confidence and determination to take charge of their own lives.

Project partner

Girl Determined is an US-registered not-for-profit, based in Myanmar and operates there with agreement from the Myanmar Ministry of Social Welfare.