Heartbeat of Humanity

Sports with Social Impact: Girl Power

The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub

This episode focuses on the potential of sports in supporting inclusion and mental health.  Khalida Popal is an award-winning Afghan football pioneer and activist and the founder of the Girl Power organisation. 

Khalida joined us for a training in Copenhagen under the Sport Coach+ initiative, implemented in a partnership between the MHPSS Hub and the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF). The initiative aims to create trauma informed and healing centered sports environments for young athletes between the ages of 10 and 24 with a focus on those with a background of displacement and adversities.

Khalida and the Girl Power team have vast experience and expertise in using sports as a tool for empowerment, inclusion and mental well-being with a focus on women from marginalized groups. We invited Khalida to share some of the insights and learnings from her work.