Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reaffirmed its unwavering commitment towards developmental assistance to girl children and mothers globally – and specifically in Namibia when it sponsored the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Galz & Goals Program with a whopping N$1.6 million.
NFA secretary-general Barry Rukoro confirmed to New Era Sport that Unicef this year recommitted itself to the Galz & Goals Program with an increased sponsorship of N$1.6 million – a significant increment from the N$900,000 that Unicef committed to over the years.
The NFA Galz & Goals Program, launched towards the end of 2009, is the first national project of its kind and is headed by the NFA’s Women’s Desk. The program mostly targets girls between the ages of 13 and 15 – empowering and educating them through football activities offered through leagues established across the country.
Through the leagues, girls are able to play organized football on a weekly basis and partake in healthy lifestyle activities and health information sessions. The leagues – also jointly sponsored by Spar Supermarket (N$175 000) – are run by volunteer coaches recruited from their respective communities.
Since the launch of the Galz & Goals Program, close to 3,000 girls have been exposed to the program and healthy lifestyle activities through football festivals. The number of girls in the program has increased and now stands at more than 3,000 girls who regularly play in the various national leagues.
Galz & Goals leagues are currently conducted in eight regions across the country and plans to add another two regions are underway.