Kadam Badhate Chalo campaign uses sports to address violence against women and gender inequality

The Kadam Badhate Chalo (KBC) is a youth driven campaign initiated by the Society for Participatory Research (PRIA) and the Martha Farrell Foundation (MFF) to address issues of violence against women and girls. This campaign will work on changing the relationship between men and women, boys and girls by ensuring equal participation of youth.

KBC motivates youth to strategize and implement campaigns that address issues of violence against women and gender discrimination, ever prevalent in Indian society. The KBC campaign will run in 16 different locations across the length and breadth of India, divided into three phases, with each phase focused on delivering a particular objective.

Pro Sport Development (PSD), in partnership PRIA and MFF, will address the issue of violence against women and girls by engaging the youth and local communities through the medium of sports. Within phase one, PSD will conduct sport programmes across different locations, designed to involve the youth and the community in various sporting activities. These will focus on overcoming inhibition among the youth groups, inculcating the core values of sport (teamwork, leadership, camaraderie, gender equality among others) and also help build a lasting bond between the core group of youth at each project site.

PSD kicked off phase one of the KBC campaign by conducting sport camps for 194 participants, including 90 girls. The camps involved delivering a specially designed sport and games curriculum by the PSD trainers to the youth aged between 14-25 years old integrating both boys and girls in these activities.

PSD initially held these camps in four different locations in India starting in Delhi on 18 January, 2016. The last week of January saw the camps move to the cities of Chitrakoot and Banda in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In February the camp will move to the state of Haryana. Phase one of the KBC campaign will go on till the middle of the year, with PSD delivering its programme in 16 different locations across 12 states to 800 youth members and different communities.

Initial reactions after the first few camps have been positive with participants enjoying the programme. One of the girls said, “I felt revitalized after today’s session”, whereas another female participant mentioned, “From today’s activities we learnt that strength comes from unity.”

[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]