Photo Credit: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and UNICEF have joined hands to promote gender equity, tolerance and inclusion through cricket, as South Africa prepares to host the Women’s T20 World Cup, from 10 to 26 February.
- Empowering girls as leaders and changemakers, through cricket and other sports, can effect positive change among youth and across society.
- Rights free video for media to use is available via the ICC Online Media Zone
The latest phase of the partnership – which was launched in October 2022 -mobilizes the power of cricket to drive positive social change and to encourage girls and women to play and be empowered by cricket. Sports are a great leveler in society by bringing girls and boys together, whilst promoting leadership and respect.
The World Cup matches will be complemented by ‘Cricket 4 Good’ sessions, including active participation from players. The cricket clinics provide coaching and involve a life-skills component that forms part of broader ‘Sports for Development’ programming in South Africa. This work engages children and young people through soft skills, such as problem solving, empathy, and negotiation. These attributes are an important part of everyday life but especially so in the event of crises when survival depends on individual, family and community resilience.
Speaking on the partnership, ICC Chief Executive, Geoff Allardice said: “The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa provides an excellent opportunity to build on the success of the partnership that was launched last year. The Cricket 4 Good sessions at this Women’s T20 World Cup will provide a platform for young girls and boys to learn important life-skills that will help them in everyday life whilst having fun at the same time.
“Harnessing the power of cricket to promote gender equality and bringing societies together is a key objective for our World Cups and we look forward to taking the partnership to the next level here in South Africa.”
“Girls and women are leaders and agents of positive change but far too often violence and societal pressures mean they are unable to realize their full potential,” said UNICEF South Africa Representative, Christine Muhigana. “We need to do better because when girls and women thrive, we all do,” added Muhigana.
The ICC and UNICEF partnership is committed to girl’s empowerment through cricket and believe that this approach can help to foster tolerance and shared responsibility during difficult times.
The Women’s T20 World Cup comes on the back off the highly successful inaugural U19 Women’s T20 World Cup which was won by India last month. ‘Cricket 4 Good’ sessions also ran alongside the matches providing more than 450 children and young people with fun cricket clinics, including with team players, as well as life skills sessions led by UNICEF South Africa volunteers.
The volunteers conducting the ‘Sports for Development’ sessions are alumni of the UNICEF supported ‘Girls and Boys Education Movement’ (GBEM), which provides young people with life skills through sports and other activities to help them realize their full potential. Conflict resolution, leadership and mentoring skills are developed to ultimately empower adolescents and young people to thrive in and outside the school environment.
About ICC
The ICC is the global governing body for cricket. Representing 108 members, the ICC governs and administrates the game and is responsible for the staging of major international tournaments including the ICC World Test Championship Final, ICC Men’s and Women’s Cricket World Cups, T20 World Cups as well as all associated qualifying events.
The ICC presides over the ICC Code of Conduct which sets the professional standards of discipline for international cricket, playing conditions, bowling reviews and other ICC regulations. The Laws of the game remain under the auspices of the MCC.
The ICC also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day Internationals and T20 Internationals. Through the Integrity Unit it coordinates action against corruption and match fixing.
The ICC Development department works with Associate Members to improve the quality of international cricket, build better cricket systems, get more people playing cricket and grow the game.
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org
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Name of Author: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body for cricket, founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference. Renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, it became the ICC in 1987. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, the ICC has 108 member nations.
