Nino Guseinova, a schoolgirl from the village of Maradisi, Marneuli municipality, has been playing football since 2021. She says, now when they have a coach, the girls use appropriate tactic and play better than before.

On April 3, 8 teams from all over the municipality took part in a friendly tournament in girls’ mini-football held in the village of Mareti. 

The idea of the tournament belongs to young people from the village of Maradisi, who think that girls should have equal opportunities to be involved in different sports.

Some of the girls who took part in the tournament are being trained for football... Our coach, Gocha Toroshelidze, is a very good coach and teaches us [how to play football] well”, says Anastasia Devadze, a member of the winning team.

According to Anastasia, the tournament was a very good opportunity for the girls to show their abilities to a wider audience.

I wish similar events were held again. No matter how many times they organize these events, we will participate every time," she says.

The teams involved in the initiative are already planning to participate in other larger tournaments.

The mini-football tournament was held within the framework of the project "Youth for Social Change", which is an initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia Country Office and is being implemented by the Network of Centers for Civic Engagement (NCCE) in Kvemo Kartli region.

The project aims to promote gender equality, eliminate gender stereotypes and harmful social norms. The young people participating in this project were the ones who decided to invite girls living in their community to be trained for football. The initiative was supported by the Georgian Football Federation, which is a long-standing partner of the UNFPA.

One of the main priorities of the cooperation between the UNFPA and the Georgian Football Federation is to increase the involvement of teenage girls in football and, in doing so, to promote gender equality.

The project “Youth for Social Change” is part of the “Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in Georgia (EVAWGG)” programme, funded by the European Union, implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA.

The UNFPA has an extensive experience working with adolescents and young people both around the world and in Georgia. According to Marika Kurdadze, Program Officer of the UNFPA Georgia Country Office, it is important for young people to contribute to and promote positive changes in social norms both within their communities and beyond. 

Young people are proving day after day that there should be equal opportunities in all areas, including sports, where girls have the same chance to succeed as boys”, Kurdadze says.

This is the goal of the “Youth for Social Change” initiative, which helps young people implement youth projects in their own communities, with the aim to overcome gender stereotypes and change harmful social norms.

The UNFPA Georgia CO is pleased to carry out “this mission” with young people and committed partners whose efforts are crucial to building a sustainable and equitable society.