Life Skills

Girls need a different set of life skills than boys to develop their leadership in this world. A sport programme can be the perfect place to learn and practice these skills.

What Are Life Skills?

UNICEF defines life skills as knowledge, attitudes and the ability for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the challenges of everyday life.1 For the purposes of this discussion, life skills are divided up into three main categories:

  1. Communication and Interpersonal Skills
  2. Decision Making and Critical Thinking Skills
  3. Coping and Self-Management

What Are Adolescent Girl Life Skills?

“Life skills” is a very broad term. Women Win defines “life skills” as any tool that serves a girl outside of sport, such as body awareness, financial savvy or self-confidence. Depending on the specific needs and life circumstances of participants, life skills education can include a wide variety of topics. Women Win has taken these life skills topics and identified (as well as added) key issues specific to the growth and development of healthy adolescent girls. These are skills that can be beneficial for girls to acquire, in addition to those skills that are more general.

 

1. Communication and Interpersonal Skills

General Adolescent Life Skills:

  • Communication
  • Negotiation/Conflict Management Skills
  • Empathy
  • Cooperation and Teamwork
  • Advocacy

Adolescent Girl Life Skills:

 

2. Decision Making and Critical Thinking Skills

General Adolescent Life Skills:

  • Decision Making and Evaluating Future Consequences of Present Actions for Self and Others
  • Problem Solving and Identifying Alternative Solutions
  • Analysing Relevant Information, Attitudes, Social Norms, Beliefs, and Peer and Media Influences

Adolescent Girl Life Skills:

 

3. Coping and Self-Management

General Adolescent Life Skills:

  • Increasing Internal Self-control
  • Managing Feelings
  • Managing Stress

Adolescent Girl Life Skills:

Self Esteem And Confidence

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Self-esteem and confidence in using your voice General Adolescent Life Skills: Communication In many communities, adolescent girls often lack spaces to...

Negotiation And Refusal

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Communication, negotiation and refusal skills General Adolescent Life Skills: Negotiation/Conflict Management Skills The better adolescent girls are...

Bullying And Gossiping

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Understanding implications and consequences of bullying and gossiping General Adolescent Life Skills: Empathy Adolescence can be a difficult landscape...

Skills And Qualities

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Understanding the skills one possesses and how they might be valuable to the team General Adolescent Life Skills: Cooperation and Teamwork When girls...

Power And Gender Relationships

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Navigating power and gender relationships General Adolescent Life Skills: Advocacy Adolescent girls need to understand and recognise how unequal power...

Rights

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Understanding and exercising rights General Adolescent Life Skills: Decision Making and Evaluating Future Consequences of Present Actions for Self and...

Body And Reproductive Health

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Understanding and making decisions about the body, sexuality, sexual/reproductive health General Adolescent Life Skills: Decision Making and Evaluating...

Accessing Community Services

Adolescent Girl Life Skills: How and when to access community services General Adolescent Life Skills: Problem Solving and Identifying Alternative Solutions Once girls understand...

Economic Empowerment

Adolescent Girl Life Skill:  Financial literacy and economic empowerment General Adolescent Life Skills: Problem Solving and Identifying Alternative Solutions We believe that...

Gender-based Violence

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Mitigating consequences and risks of gender-based violence General Adolescent Life Skills: Identifying and Analysing Relevant Information, Attitudes,...

Goal Setting

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Setting life goals General Adolescent Life Skills: Increasing Internal Self-Control   In many communities, girls are often not taught to take pride in...

Self Image

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Developing a Healthy Self-Image General Adolescent Life Skills: Increasing Internal Self-Control A girl’s perception of her own physical body is at the...

Feelings And Emotions

Adolescent Girl Life Skills: Understanding and explaining feelings and emotions General Adolescent Life Skills: Managing Feelings Adolescence can be a very confusing and emotional...

Resilience

Adolescent Girl Life Skill: Coping with trauma and being resilient General Adolescent Life Skills: Managing Stress A skill like resiliency, which is generally defined as...