Our programmes in Berlin, Nairobi and the informal settlements around Cape Town have helped thousands of girls, their families and communities.  In Berlin we have 100 members who train 3x a week with us, lead school project weeks which bring in over 400 other youth a year. Nairobi reaches ca 300 girls between 2-5 times a week. Cape Town reaches about 100 girls through boxing clubs and that amount again through school programmes.

More important than the numbers are the effects on the girls and their communities. The German Children and Youth Foundation and Women Win have evaluated our programmes and shown that girls' subjective feelings of security are raised (78% feel safer) and feel that what their greater self-efficacy carries over into school (84%) and makes them more tolerant (76%). Boxing is also a sport which allows for intense coach athlete relationships. We do not work with as many girls as other programmes but have the all important contact time with them. (I will update this with more statistics that I do not currently have available)

Adela, 16 is from Witsand, a community torn by poverty and xenophobic conflicts  with the highest rates of incest and fetal alcohol syndrome of all of South Africa. Adela is now full of energy, mischief and pride. Not so before. Before she started boxing she was often in trouble with her school principal and with her mother which led her to spend more time outside of school and her house which brought her in contact with drug dealers and problem makers in Proteus Park.  She thought she was tough but was taken advantaged of by local boys and criminals.  She heard from a friend about the boxing club walking distance from her shack.  Here she got the attention she needed, and respect for hard work rather than risky behaviours. She competed in bouts and was a local hero. Now she is regularly at school, at peace at home and giving boxing training to primary school girls.  She has heard a university representative is coming to talk at the Boxgirls and she wants to make a plan how to be a community health worker and work with getting girls and boys to better deal with sexual ignorance, shame and resulting violence.

We work closely with girls clubs and boxing clubs in the community, with the local parents and schools, businesses and universities to create a network for our projects to thrive.  We are invited by local boxing clubs to learn about where they work and we work with the parents of the girls to make sure they know about what we do and bring changes into the family.  We work with gatekeepers in the community to allow the girls to play greater leadership roles and fight gender based violence. 

Local schools allow us a safe place to deliver programmes for younger children. The local universities provide the chance to involve students in volunteering and faculty in research and impact assessment.  We also work with partners like Comic Relief and Women Win who provide knowhow, networks and money.  I serve on the Women Win advisory board and Boxgirls was one of the first projects so we are very proud to be part of such a movement to show the value of using sports to deliver on girls' rights and fight gender based violence.