La Ligue D'égalité

If you follow me, Petrichor or LaLiga you may have come across one of our projects that we run called La Ligue D'égalite. If you have wanted to learn more or understand the impact - you're in the right place.

In a first of its kind initiative, La Ligue D'égalité has impacted 600+ girls aged 8-15 over the past two years along with women's coaching courses, community impact and sports management training in Cameroon.

How did it start?

Petrichor has been working in Cameroon for many years with communities, local clubs and academies in capacity building, educational and technical trainings. A big part of our focus is to build women's football and help break down barriers for young players while at the same time building pathways for those players to follow. While we hosted tournaments and worked on league development there was still no organized league for young girls in Cameroon. Petrichor tested a youth girls league internally with our member clubs then was halted by COVID restrictions halfway through.

When restrictions were lifted we knew it was important to finish this project and approached our friends at LaLiga about joining the project to help deepen the impact. We organized the first official pilot league in early 2022 that ran for 4 months and impacted 180 girls all under 15. FUNDACION LaLiga, Futbol Feminino and LaLiga have been incredible to work with and most importantly share our values of using sport as way to build relationships, create positive social change and have fun.

Thanks to an all star team: Pablo Malavé Mu?oz Ana?r Lomba Tresor Penku Jurian van den Berg Jordan Cone Elena Montoro García

Another important focus was providing coaches education for female leaders in our region. LaLiga ran a high level course for coaches hungry to learn more. This has remained a pillar to the project and has helped raise the level of education and professionlism for female coaches in Cameroon.

How does it work?

Petrichor works with local member clubs helping train their coaches, staff and players to get ready for 'season style' play ahead of La Ligue D'égalité. This seems simple but young players rarely have a season. There are tournaments from time to time but no organized league that is developed, organized and structured. Creating league play allows longer term and more consistent touch points with the players on the field and off the field.

Petrichor leaders develop and handle all league logistics, finance and management. Teams play each weekend at a central location throughout the league which requires a lot of logistics, travel, insurance and other details to manage.

Players get guaranteed games each match day along with leadership and confidence building courses run by our partners Goals for Girls . This allows the players to create relationships through football the reach beyond the pitch into daily life.

Impact? Glad you asked.

You can dig into our impact reports for the nitty-gritty but the basics speak for themselves...

GIRLS WANT TO PLAY.

All of the questions based on confidence, leadership and equality circle back to the field. They are grateful for the chance to finally have a league of their own and dream about match days. Playing consistently on weekends along with mid week trainings have helped develop strong bonds within the team, community and among the wider football network. Girls in Cameroon have been waiting too long and now that La Ligue D'égalité exists, they are loving every second.

Additional impacts include wider community development. Before we launched the latest league there was a small cafe at the pitch. It served coke, snacks and some other basics. After bringing this project to them each weekend at the pitch they were able to grow into a full restaurant that was able to provide for 350-500 people each game day. This is one good example of indirect economic impact.

League vendors such as kit suppliers, equipment, transportation and support staff has also been elevated. This provides jobs, exposure to league management and sports business models.

Where are we now and what is next?

The second league just wrapped up with Petrichor Elite teams winning the u13 and u15 age groups. After an 8 month league with 162+ games total the players showed resilience, confidence and best of all had fun.

Life changing stories of community impact and support, sport development and leadership are too many to keep track and we hope to share them as we get them!

A third league is planned to launch in October 2023 in Yaoundé, Cameroon with deeper and more meaningful aded value programs. English classes, basic tech courses and sports career internships are on the table as we look forward to using sport for continued social change.

It is clear that this project has potential to scale, create value for sponsors and provide needed outlets for girls to play around the world. If you or your organization fits this - reach out ([email protected]). In the meantime we hope that this project inspires you to get creative about breaking down barriers for girls in sport and invest in making it a reality.

Have questions, thoughts or comments on the project? Let me know in the comments or reach out: [email protected]

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