(Sports, Expression, Leadership, and Freedom)

I feel more confident to try everything. Earlier we were always told girls can’t do this, girls should not go out, girls are weak etc. But, at SELF, we tried and did everything on our own. Now, when someone tells me to not touch a computer, bike or phone, I tell them I have made a film, I have taken photos and I play football. There is this new belief in myself which pushes me to do many more things. SELF Academy 2016 participant

The SELF (Sports, Expression, Leadership, and Freedom) Academy is a 15-day residential leadership, knowledge and skills-building academy for girls and young women in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The academy, started in 2015, strengthens the momentum of change initiated and led by the girls of CREA’s It’s My Body (IMB) program. The IMB program is a community-level intervention developed by CREA to use sports, art, media and technology to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young women. Girls from the program prompted CREA to create this new space for girls where they could explore further opportunities, build additional skills, including decision-making and negotiation abilities.

The SELF Academy recognizes the inherent capacity of girls as leaders, exposes them to different skills, and encourages them to create support networks among themselves. The academy gives girls the confidence to:

• Discuss restrictive gender norms and break gender stereotypes
• Express their aspirations and assert their own choices
• Play sports in their communities
• Collectivize and claim public spaces for themselves
• Negotiate more control over their lives within their families and communities
• Stand up against societal pressures like early and forced marriage and discontinuing education
• Demand access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services

The SELF Academy also emphasizes local resources, role models, educational training and employment opportunities so that the girls can continue to build on their learning after completing the residency.

Take a look at some animated stories and artwork created by young women and girls from CREA’s SELF Academy. This series of short videos uses the young women and girls’ own comics and voices to bring to life their thoughts and demands on accessing safe spaces, negotiating life choices and using technology safely.