CAC’s 2015: A Year In Review!
April 26th 2016. Coaches Across Continents is delighted to present our Annual Review 2015! This incredible document, developed with the Taiji Brand Group, brings our record-breaking 2015 to life. It details the highlights of our year from developing our ASK for Choice curriculum as a Clinton Global Initiative member to the inspirational work of our partners on key global days such as Peace Day. The review provides more information on some of our community partnerships which address topics such as disaster recovery in Nepal, refugees in Uganda and child rights in Brazil.
This year we are giving twenty lucky CAC supporters the chance to win an ultra-durable One World Futbol. All you have to do is read the Annual Review and complete this simple questionnaire (Hint: if you don’t know the answers you can find them in our Annual Review 2015!). Anyone who answers the questions correctly will be entered into the draw to win!
Once again here is the Annual Review 2015.
And click here for the form and a chance to win a One World Futbol.
We want to thank each and everyone of you for your ongoing support of Coaches Across Continents. We hope you enjoy reading this review as much as we enjoyed doing the work!
CAC’s International Women’s Day Resource Now Available!
February 26th 2016. Coaches Across Continents has developed a packet of sport for social impact games for International Women’s Day on 8th March. The games focus on gender equity, female empowerment and women’s and girls’ rights.
This unique set of games complements ‘ASK for Choice’, CAC’s Clinton Global Initiative commitment to bring gender policies to life and increase women’s and girls’ participation, leadership and rights in and through sport.
Pleased find this resource below. It is provided free of charge and is available to any individual, organization or community that intends to run events on or around International Women’s Day (IWD).
CAC would love you to join us in making this the most successful International Women’s Day yet. We’re really interested in seeing how you choose to mark this celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women so share any quotes, photos and videos over social media. For any IWD related activities, please remember to tag Coaches Across Continents and International Women’s Day so we can share the incredible impact you’re having in your communities.
If you would like the IWD resource packet or have any questions please contact Nora Dooley at .
Watch our ASK for Choice film below.
Being An Ally
February 5th 2016. Long-term volunteer, CJ Fritz, writes on his experience in Léogâne with four-year partner GOALS Haiti.
Last week in Leogane, Haiti, I helped run an ASK For Choice program for the first time. ASK For Choice is a CAC program dedicated to gender equity, and involves discussing the problem of gender inequity with groups of only women as well as mixed groups.
Heading to our Monday morning session with only the female participants I was nervous. When we got to the field I was pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how to go about coaching in this completely new scenario. As a male coach, how do I speak with a group of female coaches about gender equity? How can I pretend to understand the position that they are coming from? Would it be better if Nora and Emily just ran this session, and I sat out?
As I busied myself fretting about how to handle the situation I realized something; this isn’t about trying to be on the same team, it’s about trying to be an ally. We don’t need to share the same starting point if we are both aiming for the same finishing point.
As the week progressed I began to think more and more about why I want to be an ally.
I have a younger sister who entered high school back in September. She is intelligent, active, is incredibly funny and excels especially in keeping her older brothers’ egos in check.
I choose to be an ally because of her. It scares me to think that she might be told not to play the sport that she loves because sports are for boys. It scares me that she could make only 70 cents to every dollar that a man with the same job makes. And it scares me that she could be pressured into not doing the things that she loves to do because they aren’t “things that women should do.”
But what scares me more than anything is that there are millions of girls and women living in countries with far more inequity who deserve the same chance to achieve that which the boys and men around them are afforded.
As the week progressed, we heard some fantastic and inspiring things from the women with whom we were working. They were motivated and prepared to fight incredibly hard for their rights.
The women in the group gave me hope for change in Leogane, but we didn’t get the same fierce support of equity from the men in the group. It is a great start to have such a motivated group of women who are ready for change, but they can’t go it alone.
In congress, bills don’t become laws without people willing to work across party lines. Two improvising actors have to work together to make a scene flow. Men and women have to work together to bring us closer to gender equity.
By the end of the week, we began seeing some signs of progress. The men in the group seemed less defensive than they had at first, and the group began to come up with some ways they can start making change in the present.
If there is a rock you want moved and two people tie ropes around it and pull in opposite directions, no matter how hard either person pulls, or how badly they want the rock to move, it will not budge. It’s up to us to decide; are we going to pull in the same direction, or do we want to play tug-of-war forever?
CAC Announces its Commitment to Bring Gender Policies to Life Through Sport
October 8th 2015. Coaches Across Continents (CAC) announced its Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting held in New York, 26th-29th September. In partnership with Hogan Lovells, CAC will expand its recently piloted female empowerment curriculum into a new community intervention, ‘ASK for Choice’, which will use sport for social impact to bring gender policies to life.
‘ASK for Choice’ will enhance personal and community responsibility and produce locally owned and relevant gender equity initiatives. CAC’s strategic year-round mentorship on curriculum and policy development will bring gender policies to life throughout communities by generating pathways to advance women’s and girls’ participation, leadership and rights in and through sport.
“While there are many policies and campaigns regarding women in sport, Coaches Across Continents has identified that these policies are not effective and have little impact at the community level,” says CAC’s founder, Nick Gates. “This is the optimal time to launch ASK for Choice because the FIFA Women’s World Cup captured the world’s attention and we can harness this global visibility to activate the voices of and increase the opportunities for women and girls.”
Women’s and girls’ rights are violated daily. Cultural norms and traditional stereotypes restrict their choices. Violence and harmful practices against them continue despite international treaties and protective legal documents. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has not yet been ratified by every country or globally implemented. Where laws exist, they are frequently not enforced or brought to life. Global conflict is exacerbating the situation as refugee women and girls are particularly vulnerable to violence, exploitation and denial of their human rights.
Gender inequity in sport mirrors societal discrimination. Women and girls face multiple social and cultural barriers in sport, including gender stereotypes, restrictions on clothing and lack of safe spaces. In many communities, sports activities for girls are considered immoral or shameful and they risk violence for simply taking part. This creates huge obstacles to equal participation.
‘ASK for Choice’ will be implemented in 30 countries spanning five continents. 9,000 local leaders will be educated and certified and 1,000,000 children, including at least 250,000 girls, will play games from the ‘ASK for Choice’ curriculum. Through ‘ASK for Choice’, Coaches Across Continents will create an environment for the progression of Attitudes towards optimism and gender equity; the development of Skills for female leadership and participation; and the increase in Knowledge of rights and resources. This will lead to girls’ and women’s rights, educational, employment, entrepreneurial, financial, and health choices.
For additional information please contact: .
About Coaches Across Continents
Coaches Across Continents is a global leader in the sport for social impact movement. Our award-winning corporate partnerships and ‘Hat-Trick Initiative’ consist of comprehensive, year-round organizational development and sport for social impact education that focuses on local issues such as: female empowerment, including gender equity; conflict resolution, including social inclusion; health and wellness, including HIV/AIDS behavior change; child rights; vital life skills; and fun.
Our key to success is a unique Self-Directed Learning model that educates people to identify, address, and solve problems specific to their communities. We mentor organizations and empower communities to question harmful traditional, cultural, and religious practices; responsibly choose their own futures; and create sustainable change.
https://coachesacrosscontinents.org
http://facebook.com/coachesacrosscontinents
About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEO’s, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,200 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.
In addition to the Annual Meeting, CGI convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States; and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. This year, CGI also convened CGI Middle East & Africa, which brought together leaders across sectors to take action on pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.
For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.
Adrienne and Jocelyn ASK for Choice
I was born on the 17th of January 1999 in a family of 7 children of which I am the third. My parents are both alive but my father abandoned us in 2009. Because of the separation I couldn’t continue with my studies and had to stop in fifth year primary school. My mother remarried but that did not change our situation. We are still poor and my step father has to work very hard to find enough money to feed us. I love the center as I feel more free and loved here. I love playing football and I spend all my days here, I learnt how to read and write French, mathematics and other courses at the center as well as football. I play in the local team here and I am determined to become an international football player. I want to grow up and be able to take care of my family.
My name is ADRIENNE KIKUNGURU LEYA and I ASK FOR CHOICE
I was born in Kolwezi a town that is 7 and half hours from Lubumbashi on the 4th of November 1993. I love everything that has to do with sport, the difficulties that I face in my work with the community is being younger than all the teachers at the school. I am often confronted with youth that are older than me, so they don’t always do what I tell them which is hard sometimes as you can see the potential that they have to do great things but the age barrier is not always easy to overcome and you have to be strong in order for them to take you seriously. With time I was able to show them what I am capable of which is a great success for me. I want to be a role model for all the girls at the community center and the Coaches Across Continents training has taught me to go beyond my limitations to achieve my goals and self esteem and confidence in what I do. Having learned all of that I can understand the difficulties that other girls face while not being able to play sport.
CAC’s Clinton Collaboration
April 2nd 2015. We are delighted to announce that CAC has been awarded complimentary membership to the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Membership is by invitation only and the application process is extremely competitive so our acceptance is confirmation of CAC’s position as the global leader in sport for social impact.
The Clinton Global Initiative convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. To date, members of the CGI community have made nearly 3,200 Commitments to Action, improving the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries. This membership offers CAC a unique opportunity to interact with influential individuals across multiple sectors and industries. In the CGI community, today’s foremost thinkers meet tomorrow’s groundbreaking solutions. CAC will be able to share best practices, forge new partnerships, and instigate actions to achieve maximum impact and measurable social change.
Nick Gates will be attending the CGI Annual Meeting in New York this September. Since 2005, these meetings have brought together more than 180 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and prominent members of the media.
CAC’s Sarah Brown says “We are honoured to be welcomed into such an influential initiative. CGI is recognised as a community where innovative ideas are transformed into actions that achieve tangible results. This is perfectly aligned with CAC’s objectives. We are incredibly excited about this opportunity to share our expertise and contribute to the ongoing success of CGI, while also enhancing CAC’s global impact.”
