Key Details
Programme element | What is proposed |
|---|---|
Coverage | Adolescent girls aged 11–17 across Delhi NCR |
Duration | A two-year UNESCO-Nike initiative |
Evidence | Study girls’ participation and identify when and why they drop out of sport |
Coach capacity | Train coaches in safeguarding, gender-sensitive communication and reporting mechanisms |
Practical resources | Develop Safe Body Confident Sport materials |
Institutional pathway | Seek integration of these principles into formal certification frameworks, including Sports Authority of India coaching pathways |
Girls’ Participation Depends on the Environment Around Sport
The initiative was introduced at a UNESCO roundtable involving government representatives, international sports bodies, civil society organisations and corporate foundations.
Discussions drew on the UNESCO–UN Women handbook Tackling Violence against Women and Girls in Sport, which identifies barriers including too few trained coaches, concerns around body confidence and inappropriate behaviour by male coaches. The new programme is intended to translate these broader concerns into training materials, evidence and institutional safeguards suited to adolescent sport in India.
Its design recognises that access to a playground or training programme does not by itself ensure participation. Girls are more likely to remain in sport when they have trusted coaches, clear reporting channels and support from parents, teachers, schools and local authorities.
Coach Training Is the Immediate Entry Point
Participants argued that safeguarding training should be continuous rather than a one-time exercise. The proposed approach includes:
mentoring coaches after their initial training;
assessing the competence of Master Trainers;
incorporating safeguarding and gender-sensitive communication into the core curriculum; and
establishing clear procedures for reporting inappropriate conduct.
Integrating these capabilities into recognised coaching certifications could give the initiative influence beyond its initial Delhi NCR implementation. The UNESCO article, though, does not specify a timeline or confirmed decision for their adoption by the Sports Authority of India.
Participation, Not Only Elite Performance
The roundtable placed the initiative within a wider discussion on how public sports systems measure success. Participants argued that attention and resources should extend beyond medals and elite performance to whether girls can enter community sport, continue through adolescence and participate without experiencing exclusion or harm.
Haryana’s women-led sports nurseries were cited as one possible model. These community-based centres remunerate coaches, provide stipends to young athletes and connect some participants with a residential sports excellence centre in Panipat.
The reference is illustrative: UNESCO has not announced that the Haryana model will be adopted under Kickstart Her Future.
What Is Safe Body Confident Sport?
Safe Body Confident Sport seeks to create sporting environments in which girls are protected from gender-based violence and do not face harmful judgement, communication or coaching practices related to their bodies. Within this initiative, the concept will inform coach resources, safeguarding training and potential certification standards.
Policy Relevance
India’s investment in girls’ sport will produce wider participation only if safety and retention are treated as programme outcomes, alongside infrastructure, competitions and athletic performance.
The initiative presents three practical opportunities for the public sports system:
Identify the dropout stage: Participation data should show the age and institutional point—school, academy or community programme—at which girls most commonly leave sport.
Make safeguarding a coaching competency: Coach accreditation can test the ability to prevent, recognise and report inappropriate conduct, rather than treating safeguarding as an optional orientation module.
Track the experience of participants: Funding assessments could examine retention, complaints handling, availability of female coaches and girls’ confidence in reporting concerns, not only enrolments or medals.
A Delhi NCR pilot can develop workable materials and evidence, but its wider value will depend on whether the resulting standards can be adapted for schools, Khelo India programmes, state academies and community sports organisations.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Should access to public sports funding and coach certification be linked to demonstrable safeguarding standards and the retention of adolescent girls?
Follow the Full Update Here: UNESCO Convenes Roundtable on Advancing Safe and Inclusive Sport for Girls in India