Girls in India Empowered by New Partnership between World Netball Foundation and Maitrayana Charity Foundation

WN Foundation launched its strategy in 2023, in which it outlined its mission to build opportunities, environments, and partnerships that are inclusive, promote equality and change lives, as well as to use the sport of netball to drive positive change around the world. 

This aligns with the purpose of Maitrayana, which aims to leverage the power of sport, in particular netball, to create ecosystems that empower girls and young women to fulfil their potential, whilst also furthering girls and women’s rights. 
To do this, Maitrayana facilitates programmes for adolescent girls and young women from the ages of 10 – 25 years, giving them the opportunity to take part in both netball and life skills programmes, with a focus on their rights. They also offer leadership pathways and economic justice programmes. 

With this collaboration the WN Foundation will help implement Maitrayana’s programme for 500 girls in India, whilst also helping to build an online community for netball players to communicate with the girls on the programmes, enabling them to learn from others netball and life experiences. 

Having already had 8,902 participants in their programmes since 2021, Maitrayana is hoping this new partnership with the WN Foundation will help them to empower more girls and young women to exercise their right to achieve their full potential through netball. 

Maitrayana’s CEO, Kalyani Subramanyam, said: “We are truly excited about our partnership with the World Netball Foundation that enables us to build the leadership of many adolescent girls and young women, helping them challenge gender stereotypes, realise their aspirations and become role models who influence change in their communities. 
“We hope this collaboration builds visibility for our work and gives us an opportunity to share our model and experiences with many grassroot organisations across the world.”

WN Foundation Chair, Dame Liz Nicholl DBE, added: “We are thrilled to announce the World Netball Foundations partnership with Maitrayana. 

“As a charity we feel very passionately about creating new chances for people, in particular women and girls, to prosper through netball and Maitrayana does just that through its programmes which allow for women and girls to not only play netball in safe spaces, but also to develop leadership skills and learn about important topics such as their rights, menstruation, and menstrual hygiene.”

To learn more about Maitrayana, visit their website Home - Maitrayana
To learn more about the WN Foundation, click here. World Netball Foundation - World Netball