The Facts

Country: Spain, Madrid
Launched: 2005
Partners: Nike Spain, Fundación Balia por la Infancia
Objectives: Using sport and dance as a tool to promote social integration amongst female teenagers and empower those of ethnic minorities
Program Highlights:

• 30+ girls have successfully participated in the program
• Nike contributed € 50,000 for 3 years in support of the project
• Improved family environment with many of the girls’ families now supporting their personal development

“In social terms, the girls were astonished to find people who cared for them selflessly and to discover there are organizations such as Nike who believe in them and are willing to support them. In their daily life, these girls are generally not cared for, they are judged as much in their own homes as they are in school.” -Marion Stoler, Fundación Balia por la Infancia Director

Social exclusion due to race, socioeconomic status and a number of other things is common against many girls in Spain. In an attempt to combat this Nike in conjunction with Fundación Balia por la Infancia developed an after school program offering eligible girls free dance classes.

The program, is offered to girls between 13 and 18 years of age, who live in situations of risk and have low social, cultural and economic backgrounds and who often bear great family loads. Many of these girls are placed in charge of their siblings and the housekeeping and hence don’t attend school, receive education and have very limited social skills.

Hoping to facilitate the expression of the girls’ feelings, emotions, moods and ideas through body movement, dance classes are offered twice weekly. Through the classes the girls learn performances which they later perform for public exhibition. Dance also facilitates the girls’ ability to develop their creative and improvisation skills.

“Most importantly girls learn to know, respect and control their bodies. Dance teaches them physical coordination and flexibility, keeps them in good shape and health, develops spatial orientation, memory capacity and releases excess energy and emotional tension,” says Marion Stoler, Project Director.

Nike and Fundación Balia por la Infancia believe the dance classes help improve quality of life for the girls and help strengthen social cohesion. Complementary to the dance classes, the program also offers communicative sessions, outings, excursions, cultural visits and training.

Sexual and emotional education, drug abuse prevention and nutritional education all form part of these communicative sessions and it is hoped through the knowledge of their bodies the girls learn to accept themselves and improve self-esteem.

“The girls arrived in the group with a noticeable lack of social skills, respect and the ability to share and express feelings. As the program evolved there was a chance to develop these skills and we began to see changes in their ability to solve daily life conflicts. They learned to cooperate and they felt part of something. We started to achieve important goals such as communication, the feeling of belonging and improved social skills. They began to cooperate better and solve problems between members of the group.”

Academically, the girls have learned to be patient and to understand the differences and difficulties that each one has. They have been able to appreciate the value of the diversity in their own group, and this has more often made them act reasonably in situations where in days past there would have been conflict.
The future sees the ongoing continuation of these classes. Marion says, “The future goal is twofold; to make room for more girls, and to allow for innovation in what we offer so as to adapt better to the interests and demands of the girls.”

Visit www.nikewomen.com and vote for Spain - Chicas, bailamos (Girls let’s dance) if you think this program deserves a grant from Nike.

To learn more about the Fundación Balia por la Infancia, visit the site here.