Gallery: Connecting regions and women through sport

Hosted at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern (Sydney, Australia), 'beating heart of urban Aboriginal Australia', Football United’s Sportswomen for Change Leadership forum for emerging leaders welcomed eight women from Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, and Bahrain and eight Australian women, who are working to build and improve their communities through sport, to develop leadership skills and promote cross-cultural bonds.

The sixteen delegates supported the delivery of a football festival for over 150 girls at the state-of-the-art facilities at Valentine Sports Park, celebrating Female Football Week; participated in several leadership and sport for social change game design and delivery workshops; participated in an evening discussion panel hosted by Moya Dodd at Gilbert+Tobin facilitated by Tracey Holmes; participated in a beach and surf safety session with Surf Life Saving NSW; and took part in a powerful Hyundai A-League Harmony Round flag march supported by Sydney FC.

It is thanks to our partnership with the Commonwealth through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s The Council for Australian-Arab Relations, UNSW School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Creating Chances, our key partners Football NSW, Sydney FC and Gilbert + Tobin.

International delegates were identified through our membership with streetfootballworld and connections to organisations including: Spirit of Soccer (Iraq), Palestine Sport for Life, Fingerprint of Change, Right to Play (Jordan), Generation Amazing and other networks with Royal Life Saving Bahrain and GIZ Sport for Development (Jordan).

Some feedback from delegates:

"It was an honor for me to participate with you kind people. As a result, I gained a lot of useful knowledge from this event; it has surely changed me for the better."

"Indeed it was a great day in my life! I got to see many people happy with delight smiles on their faces and it was as a result of your efforts to bring people together and making the world a better place through football."

"Being surrounded by amazing passionate women has made this forum a special one for me. The knowledge that I got and the experience that I have gained is priceless."