Cheza Selected for the 2026/27 TAFISA Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway
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by
Cheza
The Cheza Association has been selected to deliver the 2026/27 TAFISA Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway in Uganda, bringing a new opportunity to strengthen how coaches, teachers and sports leaders support girls in sport.
Developed by TAFISA with support from Nike, the Pathway addresses barriers that prevent girls from joining and remaining in sport. It focuses on the people who shape their everyday experiences: coaches and programme leaders responsible for making physical activity welcoming, enjoyable and safe.
A stronger foundation for girls in sport
Getting a girl onto a playing field is only the beginning. How she is welcomed, how a coach responds to her concerns, and whether she feels safe and valued can influence whether she returns.
Through the Pathway, Cheza will help participants examine their coaching practices and build more supportive environments. Uganda’s training will cover the Coaching Girls Guide, Body Confident Sport and Safeguarding in Sport for All, alongside Cheza’s local module, Traditional African Sports Redefined for Inclusion.
The sessions will connect practical coaching decisions with girls’ confidence and participation: encouraging learning without humiliation, recognising different needs and abilities, and placing participant wellbeing at the centre of delivery.
Traditional African games as a route into participation
For Cheza, this work builds on a mission to revive and transform traditional African games into accessible sporting opportunities. Kwepena, developed into the structured sport of ChezaDodge, provides a familiar cultural starting point for schools and communities.
The Uganda programme will also include ChezaDodge/Kwepena Level 1 coaching training, equipping participants to introduce and implement the game in schools. Combining game-specific coaching with positive and safe delivery will help participants translate the Pathway into sessions that children can experience directly.
This approach connects cultural heritage with contemporary coaching practice. It gives teachers and coaches an opportunity to use African play traditions while thinking carefully about inclusion, confidence and safeguarding.
Three regional training locations
The planned rollout will bring training to Kampala on 25 July, Mbarara on 1 August and Gulu on 8 August 2026. Kampala will also have an online follow-up session on 31 July.
Reaching three regions will allow Cheza to work with participants in different school and community settings. The intention is for the learning to travel beyond the workshops, through the activities participants organise and the coaching choices they make.
From selection to everyday practice
Cheza’s selection creates an opportunity to deepen its work with girls through both coach development and African traditional sport. The next step is delivery: preparing participants to make sporting spaces safer, more encouraging and more accessible.
The long-term ambition is to help girls feel that sport belongs to them, and to support the adults who can make that experience possible.
Learn more about the Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway and Cheza’s work on girls’ participation through traditional African sports.
Play the African Way.
