To celebrate International Women’s Day today, the European Us Girls partners, including ISCA, are sharing new research on the role of female peer leaders in sport. The research report is the first product of the European Us Girls project – a Europe-wide collaboration that is rolling out StreetGames’ award-winning Us Girls programme across the continent.

The research includes inspiring examples for engaging female volunteers and increasing girls’ participation in sport and physical activity, and shows how female volunteers can have a positive influence on girls’ participation.

It also features insights from young female peer leaders who have been working on initiatives for girls, including Us Girls Wales, which received a Wales Sport Award for Sporting Experience of the Year in 2017.

“I give them the understanding, I help them, I guide them… It’s life skills for them and it’s rewarding to see the outcome,” one of the Welsh peer leaders says in the report.

As part of the European Us Girls project, two test events are being organised by project partners UISP and StreetGames in Italy and the UK this April. The test events will involve a combination of leadership and team building activities, as well as creating content for videos and an app dedicated to raising awareness and building a network for female leaders in sport, which will be launched later this year.

“We are really excited about these events and are optimistic that they will have a really positive impact on the project and the girls themselves,” Project Coordinator Claire Lane from StreetGames says.

Opportunities for women and girls to become leaders in sport and physical activity start now. Read our new European Us Girls research here.

Want to stay in the loop? Email the project leaders at [email protected]

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The European Us Girls project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Collaborative Partnerships in Sport programme.