Empowering Girls Through Sports in Bolivia

The blog El clavo en el zapato (The nail in the shoe) visited District 4 in El Alto, where the project “Niñas con altura” (Girls with height) is fostering the participation of high school girls in sports. It's funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and the foundation Save The Children:

Fue muy emocionante observar a 200 beneficiarias del proyecto, dialogar e intercambiar con un par de personajes singulares: Maitte Zamorano, atleta y futbolista […]. La acompañó Iris Uriona, una de las primeras mujeres árbitras de la Liga Profesional del Fútbol Boliviano.

Ambas compartieron sus sueños, recuerdos, ilusiones y retos. Para estas niñas alteñas, el tener tan de cerca a dos mujeres que con esfuerzo y trabajo, han logrado romper los moldes que se esperan de una joven boliviana, una de ellas con la capacidad de ser la goleadora del continente y la otra siendo jueza y voz de autoridad ante un conjunto de varones, que sin embargo han recibido poca atención mediática.
[…]
Iniciativas como las de “Niñas con altura” están poniendo las bases para tener una juventud que pueda soñar con llegar muy arriba, incorporando precisamente lo que han aprendido jugando: liderazgo, autoestima y participación en la comunidad.

It was very exciting to watch 200 beneficiaries of the project, conversing and exchanging with two unique figures: Maitte Zamorano, athlete and football player […]. With them, there was Iris Uriona, one of the first female referees in the Professional Football Bolivian League.

Both of them shared their dreams, memories, excitement and challenges. For these girls from El Alto, having two women who through effort and hard work have been able to break the mold that is expeccted of young Bolivian women, one of them with the ability of being the continent's top goal scorer and the other a judge and authority among a group of men, that nonetheless have gotten little attention from the media.
[…]
Initiatives such as “Niñas con altura” are setting the foundations for having a generation that can dream of being on the top, incorporating precisely what they have learned by playing: leadership, self-esteem and community participation.

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