We Gave the Girls a Football of Their Own and That Flipped the Script

Interview with Dorcas Amakobe and Deogratia Okoko (Moving the Goalposts)

Since 2002, Moving the Goalposts (MTG) has been a pioneer in using football as a powerful tool to empower girls and young women in Kenya’s coastal region. What began as a bold initiative to break down gender barriers on the pitch has evolved into a holistic movement for gender equality, reproductive health, leadership development, and community transformation. In this interview, Dorcas Amakobe (Executive Director) and Deogratia Okoko (Communications & Male Engagement Officer) reflect on MTG’s journey, their unique community-led approach, and their role in the Equal Play Effect network. Together, they reveal how sport, when rooted in care, patience, and local leadership, can become a catalyst for deep, lasting change.

Moving The Goalposts (MTG) is a pioneer in using football for gender equality. What makes your approach unique, and why is sport such a powerful tool for empowering girls?

Dorcas Amakobe: Sport gives girls access to public spaces that were traditionally off-limits— places seen as male-dominated, like school fields or community pitches. In our coastal communities, girls were expected to stay at home, doing caregiving and household chores. So when we first introduced our program, there was resistance. Girls weren’t welcome on the pitch. They were pushed off when boys arrived, sometimes even harassed. Our response was intentional. We engaged community leaders, created safe entry points, and built understanding around why girls deserved to be there. We also worked with the girls themselves, helping them find the confidence to claim space. One small but powerful act was giving girls a football of their own. When boys wanted to use it, they had to share the field. That flipped the script. Boys began watching, waiting their turn, and seeing girls not just as caretakers but as athletes. But football is just the beginning. We layer our programs with sexual health education, economic empowerment, and male engagement, because we see each girl as a whole person. Sport is the door, but what happens beyond the pitch is where true transformation lies.

Can you share a story of a girl or a group whose journey through MTG really stood out to you? What changed for them?

Dorcas Amakobe: Rather than focusing on one girl, I want to share the story of an entire community—because sometimes, the transformation of a place is even more powerful than an individual story. In a region called Ganda, with a predominantly Muslim population, we faced deep resistance when we first introduced MTG’s program. Families returned our consent forms, saying football was against their religious and cultural beliefs. They feared it would make girls masculine, less marriageable—even claiming their daughters’ bodies would change from playing. For our team, it was frustrating. But we didn’t walk away. Instead, we adapted—slowed down, listened, and engaged religious and community leaders, especially male allies. One imam even welcomed girls expelled from other madrasas to his own, helping parents rethink what was possible. Over time, trust grew. And just last year, we held the first-ever girls’ football league in that community. It was a breakthrough seeing girls compete publicly in a space that had once denied them. To us, success isn’t just a girl scoring a goal.  It’s her feeling safe enough to step onto the field at all. It’s her finding confidence, community, and even discovering other talents,- like music or public speaking, that grow from being in a supportive environment. We now have alumni who are coaches, board members, and leaders in their own right. But the real victory is how the community changed, how they began to see girls not as weak, but as powerful.

MTG is part of the Equal Play Effect network. What motivated you to join, and how has being part of EPE influenced your work?

Deogratia Okoko: Joining the Equal Play Effect network has been a powerful opportunity for us. It’s allowed MTG to amplify our impact, access technical support, and connect with peer organizations across Africa. Through EPE, we’ve had the space to reflect deeply on our gender action plan, identifying gaps and developing a clearer roadmap for change. We’re also contributing by sharing our expertise in male engagement and community outreach. Being part of the network has improved our capacity for joint advocacy and policy influence. For instance, we’re now working with Kilifi County on a sexual and gender-based violence policy, addressing ongoing challenges like female genital mutilation. Beyond strategy, EPE also pushed us to think about sustainability, how to keep collaborating and sharing even when funding is limited. It’s helped us grow, not just as an organization, but as contributors to a wider movement.

Dorcas Amakobe: Our motivation to join EPE came after participating in the Global Goal 5 Accelerator led by Women Win, Common Goal, and Soccer Without Borders. We developed a gender action plan during that program and later launched Kenya’s first-ever women-only CAF D license coaching course in partnership with the national football federation. That experience showed us the power of structured pathways for women in sport leadership. But it also revealed areas where we needed to grow, like developing a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) policy and training all staff in gender-responsive engagement. EPE gave us a platform to learn from others too, like how Soccer Without Borders trains leaders, or how Tackle uses drills to communicate empowerment messages. At the same time, we realized how much we could contribute, especially around safeguarding, which is still underdeveloped in some regions.

Looking ahead, what is your vision for MTG in the next five years, and what kind of support or partnerships would help make it a reality?

Deogratia Okoko: One of our top priorities is deepening male engagement, ensuring that boys and men become active allies and champions of gender justice in sport. We’ve already seen how powerful this can be, especially through our involvement in the MenEngage conference and our broader work with EPE. In the future, we want to see girls not only participating in sport but also taking leadership roles, as referees, coaches, and decisionmakers. To make that happen, we need to work closely with partners at every level, county, national, and international, to embed gender equity into policies and ensure sustainability. Safeguarding, sexual reproductive health, and gender-based violence prevention must be integral to every sports curriculum. And longterm, we aim to scale MTG’s model beyond Kenya, while securing funding and policy alignment to make gender-transformative sport a norm, not an exception.

Dorcas Amakobe: I fully agree and I want to emphasize that while sports for development often focuses on bringing girls in, we must also look at the existing male-dominated systems and transform them from within. Engaging men and boys through sport is not an add-on, it’s essential for systemic change. MTG has over two decades of experience working with adolescent girls and young women. We now see ourselves stepping into a leadership role, supporting community coaches, grassroots programs, and other organizations across the Global South to access resources and training. We’re already contributing to national policy conversations in Kenya and have been invited to guide Olympic committees and sports federations on improving gender inclusion. In the next five years, we want to expand this advocacy work and ensure that women’s voices in sport are heard globally, not just on the pitch, but in policy rooms and funding decisions too.

Photos: Portrait © Dorcas Amakobe; Article Photo © Common Goal