In Egypt, Premier Skills has a particular focus on empowering women and girls through football, to provide them with the leadership and communication skills to thrive in society and address the challenges they face in daily life.
Premier Skills can challenge gender attitudes and cultural norms through football, by supporting national partnerships and grassroots initiatives that provide new personal development opportunities to female coaches, referees and players, disabled and able-bodied no matter what sex, age or ability.
Outside its core activity of building the capacity of grassroots coaches and referees, Premier Skills works with Egyptian partner organisations and Premier Skills coach educators to establish community development projects which address the needs of marginalised young people, including:
Special Olympics Egyptian Female Team
Coach educators Ekramy Elgammal and Fayza Heidar formed and trained the Special Olympics Egyptian female team, introducing football to girls with intellectual disabilities to help them integrate into society. They received a 3rd Degree Presidential sports medal for their outstanding efforts, which included coming third in the 2018 World Championship for Disability in Chicago.
Hakky Helmek (Make your Dream Come True)
In Helwan, coach educators Fayza Heidar and Passant Mehawed trained 100 girls from different backgrounds and 55 PE teachers from local schools to help them train female students.
Hearing Impaired Team
A project initiated by coach educator Omar trained 25 hearing-impaired young people aged 18-30 in Minia (Upper Egypt), who went on to receive awards at the governorate and national levels.
1,000 Girls, 1,000 Dreams
In partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, this eight-month pilot project launched in April 2018 to provide 1,000 girls aged 10-14 from marginalised communities in eight governorates of Upper Egypt with opportunities to play football. With an initial phase culminating with a community festival in Luxor in November 2018, the project continues to this day.
Many other coaches completing phase two Premier Skills training have gone on to launch community projects. One has worked with local non-governmental organisations to train children in slum areas, including those with disabilities, while another has arranged awareness days for parents about the importance of girls playing sports.
‘We wanted to play football and there was no chance for girls to do so at school ... we seized the opportunity and started our journey.’
Aya, Premier Skills Player, Egypt
Reach
- 3,261 grassroots coaches and referees trained
- 193,075 young people engaged through inclusive community football projects
- 67 per cent female participation on courses delivered by Premier Skills Coach Educators
Premier Skills helped me achieve my dream to put together the first integrated team of disabled and non-disabled female players.
Fayzer, Premier Skills Coach Educator, Egypt
Key partnerships
- The Ministry of Youth and Sports
- Wadi Degla club
- Egyptian Football Association
- Assiut University
- Egyptian Special Olympics
Future goals
Building on its reach and impact across Egypt, Premier Skills will continue to work with key partners, such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports, while exploring new partnership opportunities to best facilitate the benefits of Premier Skills throughout the country.
Future goals for Premier Skills in Egypt:
Increasing the visibility, reach and scale of Premier Skills to ensure sustainability.
Continuing to empower young people, particularly women and girls and increasing the visibility, reach and scale of Premier Skills to ensure sustainability.
Supporting more marginalised young people to gain basic English skills.