And the winner is...

The winning photo (above) was submitted by the Naz Foundation India Trust (Naz India). Founded in 1994, Naz India is a New Delhi based NGO working on HIV/AIDS and sexual health. In 2006, it began implementing the Goal programme, using netball as a vehicle for the social inclusion of underprivileged girls.

sportanddev caught up with Kalyani Subramanyam (K.S.), national coordinator of the Goal programme, who shares about her involvment in S&D.

sportanddev: As an NGO focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, why did you elect to implement a sport-based programme?
K.S.: Adolescent girls, who account for nearly 11% of the Indian population, are vulnerable to a range of health issues, including HIV infection. While working on HIV prevention, Naz India realised that the traditional methods were not too effective. There was a need to look at prevention through a different lens and engage young girls in ways to help them make informed decisions in their relationships.

Goal takes a different approach – using sport to develop skills among young girls. Sport is an effective strategy to empower girls; it gives them the opportunity to not just talk about challenging gender roles, using their voice and owning their body but to actually practice it – and live it.

sportanddev: Why do you think netball is a particularly effective sport for social inclusion?
K.S.: The netball court creates a safe space where girls can access information, learn negotiation skills, deal with conflict and practice leadership. Netball creates a foundation for effective training sessions on leadership, communication, health and related issues.

Girls often have to compete with their brothers in every aspect of their lives. However, Goal offers them something unique: netball, a non-contact women’s sport, which is played exclusively by women all over the world.

Netball, being a team sport, helps build communities. It can be played on any surface, is not resource intensive and does not require the girls to wear any fancy sport gear.

sportanddev: What are your future plans for using a sport-based approach to development?
K.S.: Naz India would like to establish a centre for excellence to share best practices in the field of S4D and help organisations design sport-based programmes and identify and train young girls as community sports coaches.

Today there are 600 million adolescent girls growing up in developing countries like India. Some benefit from development programmes but many do not. They need to get out of social isolation. They need to improve their physical health. They need to gain skills and opportunities and hope for a different life.


Inspiring photos
Photos were sent in from a growing international S&D community; including Italy, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Hungary, Ghana, USA, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Haiti, Kenya, Switzerland and Portugal.

Naz India’s photo was chosen because of its creative balance between showing a contribution to S&D and including 100. With so many inspiring photos to choose from, selecting a winner was a difficult task. The Operating Team would like to say a big thank you to all who participated and congratulate Naz India!

[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]