As part of the legacy of Global Youth Leadership Forum to be held in September in Baku, Special Olympics Azerbaijan and the UNFPA have signed an agreement to develop inclusive sports for girls in Baku-Absheron.
The goal of the project is to provide more opportunities in Azerbaijan for girls with and without intellectual disabilities to gain the same benefits that participation in sports can offer boys: physical fitness, self-confidence, a sense of achievement as an individual and as part of a team, and a sense of empowerment that can positively affect all aspects of a person’s life. Unified Football, a popular Special Olympics team sport, will be used. Also, the project offers a platform to increase girls/women’s awareness about gender violence issues, in line with the UNFPA’s efforts in this area of human rights. The project outcome will be that 40 girls with and without intellectual disabilities will have experienced a quality inclusive sports experience and become aware of their own abilities and their rights as women.
At the same time, important national sports bodies will have an understanding of the role they can play in inclusion of persons with disabilities and girls/women in general. The project will be implemented in Baku-Absheron where there is easy access to facilities and girl/women players.
