BookASmile, YUWA Urge Young Girls to Seek ‘Independence Through Sports’
by EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | August 13, 2021 | News
BookASmile YUWA
Ahead of India’s 75th Independence Day, BookASmile, the charity initiative of BookMyShow, in collaboration with Jharkhand-based NGO YUWA, will launch a digital film themed ‘Independence Through Sports’.
Developed and produced by Black Sheep Productions, the film traces the impact that the football programme executed by YUWA and supported by BookASmile has made on the lives of young girls.
The film follows the lives of the girls before and after the programme and provides their account of the wings it lent them to dream big.
It will be launched on 14 August 2021. A statement informed that BookASmile and YUWA are furthering their work in encouraging and empowering young girls to explore the realm of sports through this campaign.
Farzana Cama Balpande, Head – BookASmile, said, “We are delighted to launch this campaign through the digital film ‘Independence through Sports’ in association with our long-term partners YUWA. In many parts of the country, girls are taught to fit in or forgo their education and the opportunity for a better, empowered life. BookASmile and YUWA aim to challenge these social conventions through the power of sports to mentor and train girls to stand out and be the best version of themselves. Through our journey as partners over the years, together we have been able to create positive impact in rural Jharkhand, enabling hundreds of girls to break out from age-old, stereotypical misogynistic practices and reach their true potential.”
Franz Gastler, Co-founder & Executive Director, YUWA, said, "When I left my corporate job in Gurgaon in 2008 and moved to rural Jharkhand, I never expected I would stay for 12 years. I did not expect I would meet a group of kids so hungry for a chance to change their futures. I would not have believed that from our first football team of 12 girls we would grow to 600 playing every day, that we would have what I believe to be the largest cadre of female football coaches in India, or that these young women would travel the world to compete, train and speak about their incredible journey. The YUWA girls' achievements are simply extraordinary, and we could not have done it without the support and sincere dedication of the team at BookASmile.”
A film to be launched on the eve of Independence Day follows the lives of the girls before and after their induction into a football programme in rural Jharkhand and the wings it has given them.