Women Lead Global Olympic Values Education from India to Italy

Stories from different countries highlight how women have become key drivers of OVEP's growth, taking the initiative from grassroots classrooms to national education networks and ensuring that Olympic values reach millions of young people, reported Olympics.com.

The programme, spearheaded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has seen remarkable expansion in India in recent years. Since 2024, OVEP has reached more than 12 million children across 65,000 schools in the country, with women educators playing a central role in its implementation.

Through collaboration between the IOC and the Reliance Foundation, OVEP has also been introduced in anganwadis - community-based centres that provide early childhood education, nutrition and health support in rural and low-income areas. These centres are run by women, making them an important platform for spreading the programme's message.

Sugandh Hamilton, OVEP lead for the Reliance Foundation's youth sports division, said the programme's strength lies in the leadership opportunities it creates for women at the grassroots level.

"What makes OVEP powerful is not just the framework or the values it promotes, but the way it creates space for women to lead, to speak and to shape change at the grassroots level. Women's lived understanding of local realities helps OVEP connect meaningfully with communities, making the programme both relevant and deeply impactful in practice," Hamilton said.

At present, 120 anganwadis involved in the programme are run entirely by women, who have together conducted more than 1,200 OVEP sessions. The initiative has strengthened the role of anganwadi workers as educators and community leaders by equipping them with tools to teach values such as fairness, teamwork and respect through sport-based activities.

Preeti Namdeo, an anganwadi worker from Madhya Pradesh, shared the story of a young girl named Ruchi whose confidence improved significantly after being introduced to OVEP activities.

Ruchi, who earlier struggled to participate in group interactions, gradually began engaging more actively after the sessions were introduced. According to Namdeo, the transformation has been reflected among several girls attending the centre.

"Seeing these young girls grow in confidence has been deeply fulfilling," she said.

Beyond early education centres, the IOC has also partnered with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust to expand the programme in schools across Assam, Meghalaya, Odisha and Telangana. The initiative has engaged nearly 250,000 young people, with more than 23,000 women serving as OVEP educators.

Girls account for nearly half of the participants in the programme, with their representation reaching as high as 65 per cent in certain areas.

Globally, similar efforts are underway to empower women through the programme. In Saudi Arabia, a two-day OVEP "Train-the-Trainer" workshop held in AlUla last year brought together 16 women who strengthened their leadership skills and later formed a group of OVEP ambassadors. The participants have since launched several initiatives using sports such as archery, basketball and fencing to promote Olympic values and social inclusion.

In Senegal, host of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, women are also playing a central role in promoting Olympism among young people. Fanta Diallo, Engagement and Mobilisation Director for Dakar 2026, is part of a team working to introduce OVEP principles to around 900,000 youth ahead of the Games.

OVEP clubs have been set up in schools across the country, with girls representing nearly half of the participants despite cultural and socio-economic barriers that often limit their access to sports and education.

According to Cecile Faye, Director of the National Olympic Academy of Senegal, the visibility of female leaders is helping reshape attitudes.

"What makes female leadership important in society is transmitting values to young girls. Seeing them become autonomous and reproducing the same behaviours is reassuring," Faye said.

Meanwhile in Italy, organisers of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games have integrated OVEP into the Gen26 education programme to extend the Olympic movement's social impact.

Women have played a major role in designing and delivering the initiative, including through the nationwide teachers' network of the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit, where around 65 per cent of members are women. Training programmes have enabled female educators to mentor more than 2,000 teachers, while an online course on Olympic and Paralympic values has reached over 8,000 educators across the country.

Officials say the programme has already begun encouraging greater participation from girls in school discussions and leadership activities linked to sport.

Across continents, these initiatives demonstrate how women are not only implementing Olympic values education but are shaping its long-term legacy by empowering young people and communities through sport.

- ANI