31 March 2025 – As Gender Equality Month comes to an end, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is shining a spotlight on the Campeonas 2.4 project, an initiative that involves more than 400 young female footballers from three South American nations. This programme once again highlights the IOC’s commitment to offering every woman and girl the chance to participate in and benefit from sport.
The original project – “Campeonas: Wearing the Shirt for Gender Equality in Football” – was launched in Paraguay in 2023. Following its initial success, the programme was then expanded to Argentina and Chile in 2024, thanks to a collective effort from the IOC, Fundación SES and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF).
It provides life skills training for young and adolescent girls in football clubs, focusing on leadership, gender equality, digital literacy and employability preparation.
From one country to three
Campeonas 2.4, as it is now known, has so far reached more than 400 girls across the three countries and, in addition to increasing their participation in football, offers education on a wide range of topics such as gender equality in indigenous communities and rural areas.
The training sessions cover three important areas, aiming to foster the development of young female athletes. Participants are given information and tools to manage their health, including guidance on sexual and reproductive rights for girls and adolescents.
A second module addresses the digital divide, focusing on apps, artificial intelligence (AI) and technology applied in the workplace. Thirdly, vocational guidance and employability sessions teach girls how to create their own CV and develop basic entrepreneurial skills.
Active participation is encouraged, with the girls invited to take on a leading role whether delivering presentations, taking part in campaigns or leading community talks.
“We talk a lot about our rights, about gender equality, about ourselves,” explains 14-year-old Biance Aime from Argentina. “I’ve been playing football since I was four years old. Now I feel more confident in myself and my potential. I would tell other girls to take part in Campeonas, because it changes your way of seeing and thinking.”
Progress in Paraguay
With the support of Olympic Solidarity, the NOC of Paraguay has developed and expanded the reach of the project in the country, while the Asociación Por Ellas has helped take it to clubs in urban and rural areas, such as Club Kuña Guaraní, which covers three indigenous peoples of the Guaraní nation (Avá, Mbya and Aché), in communities settled in peri-urban areas.
Florencia Irala Fretes, 14, who took part with her club from San Lorenzo, explained that receiving support has given her hope for the future.
When I started playing I felt quite bad, because they told me that football was for men. With Campeonas, I realised that women do play, that it is our right too, that we have to have the same opportunities. I am passionate about sport and football. I feel that we have a future if they support us. Florencia Irala Fretes Alongside the project, training workshops will be offered to 120 coaches and leaders on inclusive and gender-equitable sports practices, followed by 10 workshops on digital skills and entrepreneurship.
Shared vision
Campeonas 2.4 is delivered by Fundación SES together with Asociación Civil de Mujeres Juana Azurduy, Cooperativa El Chirimbote and Cooperativa Caleidoscopio (Argentina), ACHNU (Chile) and Asociación Por Ellas (Paraguay).
In addition to the one with the CAF, other key partnerships have proved crucial in sustaining and expanding the programme, including those with local municipalities, the sports ministries and the ministries for women and gender equality in Argentina, Chile and Paraguay, which have supported activities to provide information on various government programmes aimed at protecting against violence.
Sport for good
Showcasing the impactful collaboration between the sports movement, the social development sector and for-purpose businesses, initiatives such as Campeonas 2.4 build on the IOC’s Olympism365 strategy to strengthen the role of sport in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched as part of the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 reforms.
Campeonas 2.4 is one of more than 550 sport and community initiatives supported by the IOC. It will be celebrated at the Olympism365 Summit, which will bring stakeholders from the sport and social development sectors together in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 3 to 5 June.
It is also a timely reminder of the good that sport can do, as the world marks the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) on 6 April, and its theme for 2025 “Levelling the Playing Field: Sport for Social Inclusion”.
