When a girl is born in Jharkhand, India, her life has usually already been planned out for her. She is isolated—if she is not seen working, she is harassed. She is illiterate—more than six in ten women here can’t read. She is married off—Jharkhand leads Indian states in child marriage. She remains vulnerable—an estimated 30,000 girls from Jharkhand are trafficked every year. She gets pregnant. The cycle continues. The first day a girl organizes or joins one of Yuwa’s football teams, she barely knows most of the other girls, even though their houses may be just steps away from one another. In her village, while boys play, girls work. A girl must always be seen doing something in the service of her family. A girl in Yuwa loves football, but it’s about much more than a sport. She gets educated. She pays attention to her own health. She marries when she chooses—on Yuwa's first team, not a single girl has gotten married below the age of 18, even though several of their older sisters had been married off at age 15. She will raise a healthy family. The cycle continues. Through a hub-and-spoke model, Yuwa is building a cadre of 100-plus female community sports leaders who will be coaching 2,000 girls daily in three years. But two houses have sprung up on the girls' primary field in just the past year. While the number of players has soared, the playing field has shrunk by a quarter. The state government has offered Yuwa one of the last pieces of land in the area which has not yet been sold off to land agents. The grant would be applied to transform this into a training hub to support Yuwa's growing number of more remote village grounds.

Who is the sponsoring organization?

Yuwa. Through team sport, Yuwa provides a platform for young women to gain confidence to make a change in their world. Yuwa is a Jharkhand, India-based NGO (with 501(c)3 registration) using girls' football to promote health, education, and improved livelihoods. Girls quickly gain confidence to challenge the social script of gender inequality. In India's top state for human trafficking, teamwork is a powerful force to prevent trafficking by focusing on the three primary causes of a young woman's vulnerability: little opportunity, gender inequality, and lack of confidence. Founded in January of 2009 with 15 girls in one village, Yuwa now has over 200 girls in 10 villages practicing three hours a day, six days a week. In less than a year, 13 of Yuwa's girls lifted the state team's national ranking from 20th place to 4th. Twelve-year-old Puspa Toppo was selected for the National Team (see video). Twenty girls from Yuwa's first team are now leading practices for the six new teams. Two girls are even coaching a young boys’ team. The idea is to create an atmosphere in villages which creates a sense belonging, that builds a girl up, and that makes parents aware of a girl’s rights and value. With her newfound confidence comes a sense of self-worth which sparks her interest in her own education and health. Next comes a collective spirit of social enterprise, and girls who started by playing football grow into a formidable economic force. They start by saving money for a football, some with just fifty paisa. Next they save for shoes. Then they keep saving. Soon they have a corpus of several thousand rupees, and by that time they’re ready to invest it into their own creative endeavors for supplemental income. Girls in Yuwa quickly show they are enterprising, energetic, and capable. http://www.yuwa-india.org

Where will the project be located?

Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Rukka Village, Ormanjhi Block, Ranchi District, Jharkhand (INDIA). The proposed site is 4 acres nestled between a reservoir and a tributary river, near a popular picnic and tourist location, 20 km north of Ranchi, the capitol of Jharkhand. It is It is high enough not to be submerged during monsoon—the only open plot of government land left in the three-village area, and one of the only such pieces of land not to have been sold off or acquired by land agents. The site is located at the end of Rukka Dam Road, a paved road connected to a major highway. Thousands of girls have easy access by foot and bicycle. It allows easy access by bus, auto-rickshaw, etc to visiting teams and coaches, as well as government officials and private sector individuals who are located in Ranchi. Yet because it is 5km from the main highway, it is also sheltered from dangerous traffic and bothersome passers-by.

Do facilities at the location need to be constructed or upgraded?

Yes. For any field intended primarily for girls, or participation at all by girls, access must be controlled. Boys tend to descend on any field girls choose, and try to take it over as fast as they can, even if they had never played there before. Lazy locals who lack toilets also tend to flock to attractive spots to perform their morning ablutions (not to mention the occasional army maneuvers and student drivers who tend to tear up a nice field, or a famous hospital that unapologetically dumped its medical waste on the edge of Yuwa’s first field for lack of a smarter place). All-purpose outdoor sports arena/field (90m x 200m): Football – Hockey – Concerts – Public events – Bazaars – Flea Markets – Art Fairs. 1) ‘Safe and tough’ surface, 2) Clubhouse-Classroom (24’ x 40’): for small groups, team meetings, youth groups, parent meetings, after school tutoring, internet cafe, mentoring, coaches’ training, 3) Lighting system.

Are any further architectural or design services required?

Yes. FIRST, the biggest challenge could be designing a playing surface that: a) Can withstand 200-plus kids per day, b) Will not pose a health risk in extreme heat of up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit in summer (synthetic surfaces like Field Turf tend to become very hot), c) Will be safe for barefoot play (players get boots after 5-6 months and few visiting teams will have boots). SECOND, a boundary fence or wall should serve to control access, but not block access or build a barricade between players and the rest of the community. THIRD, in its design and materials, it might respect and compliment the players’ own traditions and unique environment, nurturing pride in themselves LASTLY, if much of this can be constructed locally, even by the players themselves, they will take an immense pride in the facility, and they will care for it and look after it brilliantly.

Would this project benefit from the assistance of construction professionals?

Yes. Working with people to construct their own space takes more expertise than doing it for them. Ideally, a construction professional would bring lots of experience (on quality, safety, best practices, innovation, etc) which is not available locally, but would also have a curiosity and keen eye to search out local innovations, and a capability to incorporate those into the project.