Football for Gender Equity: A Coach’s Toolkit
Football for Gender Equity: A Coach’s Toolkit—a powerful new resource was created as part of the Equal Play Effect – Asia Pacific program, aimed at using football to challenge gender norms and create more equitable communities through sport.
The Equal Play Effect – Asia Pacific is a global initiative led by Common Goal, Women Win, and Creating Chances. It’s a scalable and adaptable approach that harnesses the power of football to advance gender equity and drive positive social change. The program focuses on increasing the leadership, participation, and visibility of girls and women in football for good programs—ensuring every young girl has access to strong female role models in her community.
As part of the Asia Pacific chapter of this initiative, The WE United Project joined hands with four partner organizations across the region: Inspire (Indonesia), PlayOnside (Thailand), Football for All (Vietnam) and Fundlife International (Philippines).
Together, under the guidance of the three lead organizations, these partners co-developed a unique and practical toolkit designed by women coaches for coaches.
What's Inside the Toolkit?
Coaches play a vital role in shaping a young athlete’s journey—not just as trainers, but as mentors, leaders, and changemakers. Football for Gender Equity: A Coach’s Toolkit equips coaches to do just that. It is designed to:
- Provide coaches with the tools and knowledge to create fun, safe, and inclusive spaces for girls, women, and non-binary people to participate in football skill and social and emotional wellbeing activities.
- Build the capacity and confidence of coaches across the Asia Pacific to deliver and design gender inclusive activities and programs.
- Develop the program participants into role models to increase the participation of girls and women in playing, coaching, community, and leadership positions across the region.
- Promote gender equity in coaching and participation that contributes to advancing gender equity in sport.
Prioritizing women in coaching and leadership opens doors in communities like Nepal where such opportunities are often limited. Visible, respected roles in sports challenge traditional gender norms and create empowering spaces for the next generation of girls and women.
A Key Resource for the WE Coach Program
This toolkit will play an essential role in WE United’s WE Coach Program, which uses football as a platform to empower young women as leaders and active changemakers in their communities. With the support of this toolkit, coaches can foster safer and more inclusive environments—helping girls feel seen, heard, and supported, both on and off the pitch.
WE United’s involvement in this initiative was led by Lhakpa Lama, supported by our incredible coach cohort: Razeta Shakya (Kathmandu), Ombung Rai (Sunsari), Sunita Shahi (Surkhet), Saraswati Saud (Dhangadi) and Pratigya Joshi (Kathmandu).
The toolkit’s development was coordinated by Creating Chances with contributions from coaches across all participating Football for Good organizations in the region.