MISSION
Drive a sustained feminist movement that re-imagines and transforms sport.
VISION
All girls, women* and non-binary people exercise their right to play.
PHOTO BY: Alice Conti
ONSIDE MENA specifically supports initiatives that promote and advocate for gender justice to and through sports in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Groups accessed unrestricted funds to support girls, women* and non-binary individuals in exercising their right to play, thus advancing gender justice in sports at all levels, from the grassroots to the global.
The ONSIDE MENA grantees
During this call, the ONSIDE Fund supported groups based in the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, Qatar, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia.
ONSIDE MENA Advisory Committee
During its first call for proposals the ONSIDE Fund received a significantly low amount of applications from the MENA region. As a response, Women Win launched a consultancy call to support the strategy development for the ONSIDE Fund in terms of governance, outreach, and grant-making exclusively designed for this region.
The ONSIDE MENA Advisory Committee was responsible for designing ONSIDE MENA's call for proposals and for the selection process of this cohort.
Lina is the founder and owner of SheFighter, the first self-defense studio for women only in Jordan, and expanded to 35 countries globally. Lina is a leader by nature with deep experience in public speaking, entrepreneurship, and scaling businesses. Lina has been invited to speak at over 200 global summits including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Lina Khalifeh
Julie is part of an organisation fighting for compulsory schooling and against the lack of access to education especially for girls. Their main goal is to give girls the opportunity to benefit from the same rights as boys to access education and above all to encourage them to develop a desire for a career.
Julie Mayikane
Zara is a player for the National Jordanian Women’s Basketball team. As a basketball player in Jordan, Zara is constantly trying to help progress the role of women & minorities in sports. This led her to co-found SIRA, a professional community committed to advancing women's equal opportunity & growth in the professional environment.
Zara Najjar
Mezna is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Public Health and Physical Activity in King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. In 2018, she founded the KSU Movement at King Saud University for a healthy and active campus, the first women's community sports initiative in Saudi universities.
Mezna Al Marzooqi
Saba'a Najib holds a doctorate in sports. She was the first elected woman in the Palestinian Olympic Committee. Being a member of the executive office of the Arab Federation for Sports Culture, Saba'a believes that sport is a tool to develop societies, rebuild generations with human values and to support women by providing a safe environment.
Saba'a Najib Mahmoud Jarrar
Mariem lives in a very conservative Saharaoui society and small city, where females playing sports is a taboo, especially sports such as boxing, heavy weight lifting, and basketball.
Mariem is helping to break stereotypes as well as encourage and empower women to exercise all sorts of sports.
Mariem Tarfaoui
Fatima- Azzhara is a Program Director at LEAD Morocco, a Moroccan non-profit organisation that uses sport as a positive incentive to improve academic performance, eliminate gender barriers and empower Morocco’s future leaders. She has been at the heart of the implementation of " SHE PLAYS FOOTBALL'.
Fatima-Azzahra Benfares
Mariam Ibrahim is a former professional football player who represented the Egyptian National Women's Football Team. She is a Sport for Development in Africa Junior Advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Eschborn, Germany.
Mariam Ibrahim
