The Madhesh Province of Nepal is situated in the South-East of Nepal, bordering the Bihar region of India. The region faces some of the highest levels of poverty and social issues in the country. Evidence shows that one of the biggest barriers to education for girls in the area is child marriage and gender inequality as it forces many girls to drop out of school at an early age.

Working with local partners, Cricket Without Boundaries and Sabal Nepal, this project will build on a successful pilot and use cricket to promote girls’ right to play sports, and move freely in their community. The project focuses on developing confidence, communication and self-advocacy aiming to:

• Improve physical and mental health for children and young people;
• Increase understanding about child rights, gender-based violence and menstruation both in young people and across the wider community
• Reduce barriers to education for women and girls and reduce discriminatory practices against women and girls.

The project uses game-based approaches to educate and inform on social and health issues with a particular aim to promote discussion and provide opportunities to practice life-skills such as self-advocacy, leadership, and teamwork. These games link physical actions and metaphors from the game of cricket to broad concepts such as building power, knocking down challenges, collecting knowledge, or identifying targets. These can be adapted to focus on different subjects. For example, sexual health education, refugee protection, and dignified menstruation.

The ALMT is offering match funding over a two year period. The programme aims to promote social change by working regularly with 500 secondary students in nine secondary schools and reach a further 3,500 people, including parents and wider families, through sporting events.