Sport in Mayotte, Increasing Awareness of Gender Equality
published on 27 April 2018
In Mayotte, the newest French department, AFD has signed a partnership agreement with NGO PLAY International to set up and promote an educational and sporting project which sits at the heart of the fight against all types of discrimination. The project highlights gender stereotypes and violence towards girls.
Created in 1999, the French NGO PLAY International sees sport as a genuine catalyst for social change and as an educational tool. The NGO develops educational projects designed for children, which use sport as a means to raise awareness through play, both in France and in many developing countries.
Preventing discrimination... from the very youngest children onwards
Conscious of the extreme youthfulness of the population and the current social tensions facing the territory, AFD decided to support PLAY International, which has been involved in Mayotte since 2016 using its ‘Playdagogie’ method. The objective is to raise the children’s awareness of the issues of ‘living together’ using games of sport which are followed by short discussions of a chosen topic.
The NGO is particularly interested in the current major challenges facing society: combatting violence, secularism, the fight against racism, and, in this project, a focus on equality between girls and boys, the sine qua non for all sustainable development.
Today, Mayotte is torn between the traditional foundations of Mahorais society - communitarianism, solidarity and mutual aid - and the Western model built around ideas of personal fulfilment and independence. But it is also a country of resolute women who have created the island’s history. Women who are the links between the traditional and the modern. Here, even more than elsewhere, development cannot happen without women, and their role in society must be strengthened.
The programme consists of: adapting activities to Mahorais culture and providing teaching aids in Shimaore; distributing teaching kits and training education professionals (primary school teachers and extra-curricular leaders) to use them and to lead the games; and rolling out the initiative to as many children in the 7-11 age range as possible.
In line with its aim of encouraging educational support for the children of today and the adults of tomorrow, AFD is providing funding of 50,000 euros for this project.
In Mayotte, AFD’s involvement and its motto ‘a world in common’ take on their full range of connotations. Building a fairer and more sustainable world, a world where no-one is left on the margins, in particular women and girls who are often discriminated against in the name of social and cultural conventions.
