Bridging Project
Leveraging sports for gender equality, human rights and life free of violence
In a significant step forward for gender equality, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UN Women have reaffirmed their commitment to use sport as a powerful catalyst for empowering women and girls. This commitment is encapsulated in their ongoing partnership, now bolstered by a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), promising to leverage sports for advancing gender equality, human rights, and lives free from violence.
Under this strengthened alliance, the IOC and UN Women are launching an ambitious 12-month bridging project. This initiative is designed to build on the transformative impacts of sports-based programmes in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific regions, focusing on two pivotal outcomes:
- Empowering Girls and Young Women: By enhancing their skills and capacity to voice their needs, the project aims to enable girls and young women to effectively advocate for themselves with various institutions and bodies responsible for upholding their rights.
- Strengthening Institutional Accountability: A key goal is to enhance the knowledge and capacity of state institutions, organizations within the sports and social ecosystem, and the media. The project seeks to ensure these bodies are more accountable for gender equality and human rights in their policies, planning, and budgeting processes.
A cornerstone of this initiative is its emphasis on intra and cross-regional knowledge sharing. This approach is set to foster the exchange of innovative practices and insights on gender equality in sports, drawing upon UN Women's experiences in the Latin American, Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific regions.
By collaborating with a diverse range of partners, including governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, and National Olympic Committees in Brazil, Argentina, and Asia and the Pacific region, this project aspires to create a collaborative ecosystem. This ecosystem will advance gender equality and women's human rights through sport, integrating innovation and best practices from different regions and sectors.
Sport for Generation Equality Framework
In addition to offering a platform to exchange best practices, address emerging challenges, and reflect on policy approaches, the event also provided an opportunity to encourage governments, UN organisations, sport for development and peace organisations, and all those working within the sports movement to sign up to the Sports for Generation Equality Framework. Launched by UN Women and the IOC in 2020, this multi-stakeholder coalition aims to accelerate progress in making gender equality a reality within and through sport through a set of common principles and aligned objectives.
As the world looks towards the Olympic Games Paris 2024, poised to be the first Games to achieve full gender parity, this collaboration between the IOC and UN Women stands as a testament to the power of sport as a universal language of empowerment and equality. It's not just about equal participation; it's about reshaping the future of sports as an inclusive, equitable, and safe space for all.
Article
Press release
The International Olympic Committee and UN Women sign new agreement to advance gender equality through sport.