A five-day gender-sensitive football tournament in Pibor bringing together 10 teams and 220 players to challenge gender stereotypes and build tolerance and respect between communities in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.
In Pibor, as in much of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, sport has traditionally been organised along strict gender lines, with football in particular seen as a male-only activity. This division reinforces broader gender stereotypes that limit girls' and women's participation in public and community life, while also reducing the opportunities for young people from different backgrounds to interact in shared, positive spaces.
YSAT designed this tournament specifically to challenge that pattern. By organising five women's teams alongside five men's teams and giving both equal status within the same competition, the tournament created a visible, community-wide demonstration that women's participation in sport — and by extension in public life — is both possible and valued.
The tournament ran from 4 to 8 August 2023 at Pibor Boys' Primary School and was officially launched by the Youth Chairperson, giving it formal recognition from local youth leadership structures. With 220 players taking part across the five days, the event reached a large cross-section of young people in the community, using the shared excitement of competitive sport to carry messages of tolerance and respect between groups that do not always interact under ordinary circumstances.
The tournament was officially launched by the Youth Chairperson at Pibor Boys' Primary School, lending formal recognition from local youth leadership and signalling community-wide endorsement of the gender-sensitive format from the outset.
Five female teams took part in the tournament on equal footing with the men's competition, giving women players a visible platform in a sport traditionally dominated by men, and challenging community assumptions about what women can and should participate in.
Five male teams competed alongside the women's teams, with both groups treated as part of a single unified tournament rather than separate events — reinforcing the message that shared community spaces can include everyone on equal terms.
Across the five days at Pibor Boys' Primary School, the tournament drew large numbers of spectators alongside the 220 players, using the shared excitement of competitive football to bring different groups within the community together in a positive, celebratory setting.
Players involved in the gender stereotype sports tournament
Football teams participated — 5 female and 5 male
Days of competition, from 4 to 8 August 2023
Tournament officially launched by the Youth Chairperson