Dhaka: UNICEF Bangladesh today signed a two-year-long partnership agreement with Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), to bolster girls’ empowerment through football.
The agreement is part of UNICEF’s long-term commitment to make sports available for all, especially women and girls.
The UNICEF logo will be placed on the shirts of the National Under-16 Girl’s Football Team for all national and international matches and practice sessions under the partnership.
In addition, UNICEF will be working closely with BFF to encourage more girls to participate in football by organizing national talent hunts and football tournaments covering all the 64 districts of Bangladesh on a yearly basis.
Under the terms of the partnership, the BFF has appointed UNICEF as the exclusive Development Partner of Bangladesh National Girls’ Football Team.
Bangladesh Football Federation President Kazi Salahuddin and UNICEF Bangladesh Representative Edouard Beigbeder signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.
“This initiative will offer a unique opportunity to enhance UNICEF’s partnerships in the world of sport by bringing into limelight the hidden talent scattered across the country with a strong potential to change lives,” Mr Beigbeder said.
Reaching children through sport was an obvious move for UNICEF, he said, as children are naturally drawn to outside activities and popular sports like football can play a useful role in empowering children in general and girl children in particular.
Mr Beigbeder said that Bangladesh’s female national under16-players were now “models of girl empowerment and emancipation” and had set an example for other girls in the country to follow.
He said that sport promotes equity and inclusion and plays a vital role in breaking entrenched attitudes and practices that discriminate against girls including child marriage, child trafficking and violence against children.
