Mutola Cup : an all-out platform on sexual education

Projet porté par Futebol dá força Foundation

Fondée en 2012, Futebol dá Força Foundation utilise le football comme plateforme pour promouvoir l’égalité des sexes dans les communautés locales de Mozambique.

Mutola Cup is a football league organised in 55 districts throughout Mozambique, operating as a platform for education and sensitisation on sexual health in an approach founded on girls and young women's rights. The objective is to provide the knowledge necessary to prevent violence and household and sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies, STIs and HIV/AIDS.

Context

In Mozambique, according to Futebol dà Força Foundation, 60% de la population live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, mainly in rural areas and some traditional social practices further deteriorate the girls’ situation. For UNICEF, nearly 15 % of Mozambican girls marry before they are 15 and half of them before they are 18. The rate of pregnancies among teenagers with a lack of a significant sexual education is 40 %. Additionally, 6 % of the girls live with HIV/AIDS and 32 % are officially orphans. This situation has caused girls to drop out of school, their mental health to worsen, their living conditions to get poorer, and cases of violence and household sexual abuses to be more frequent, etc.

In this respect, the programme, implemented by Futebol Dá Força in close cooperation with the government stakeholders, aims at empowering girls on the whole territory thanks to football.

Objectives

Using football as a means for engaging youths and girls into an all-out process of sexual education
Fighting against the sexual inequalities, violence and abuses which young women and teenagers are victims of
Cutting down cases of pregnancy among girls as well as the number of school drop-outs
Reinforcing young girls’ mental health and promoting women’s empowerment
Increasing access to sexual and reproductive health services and increasing the use contraceptives to curb the incidence of STIs and HIV/AIDS

Activities

Football matches and workshops on girls’ rights and health, and on sexual and reproductive rights in 55 districts in the country
Football courses and creation of safe spaces for discussions on sexual and reproductive health
Workshops involving community members in interactive discussions according to the same workshop programme as the girls’.
Sensitisation and sexual education campaign to fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible infections

Impacts

1,050 football coaches in 55 districts of Mozambique shall be hired, trained and assisted in FDF methodology to provide education at RSHR and work for girl empowerment through football in 2021
15,250 girls in 55 districts of Mozambique shall be enlisted into football teams with weekly games and workshops in the Mutola Cup league incorporated into the 2021 public school programme
In 2021, 15,250 girls shall be entitled to know their rights and the SDSR, and shall be endowed with tools to shape their own future
15,250 girls are living in better health (fewer child marriages, pregnancies and school drop-outs, as well as VSS)
Increased sensitisation on girls’ rights in 500 communities of 55 districts in Mozambique