Arab Women and Sport is a regional organization that studies where girls and women drop out of sport, works with sport organizations to change what's causing it, and measures whether the changes work.
Women's sport is growing across the region. New leagues, new teams, new funding. But opportunity on paper only helps if girls and women can actually get in, stay in and move forward. These are the questions we work on.
What shows up as a confidence, motivation or performance problem is often shaped by the environment around the athlete.
The Arab world should not only be a place where ideas about women's sport are applied.
It should also be a place where knowledge is created, tested and used to build better systems.
Every project follows the same six steps, so what we learn in one club or federation can be used in the next.
Listen to players, parents, coaches and staff, and look at the numbers.
Find where the system is letting girls and women down.
Build practical changes with the organization, not for it.
Test the changes in a real team or program.
Check whether retention and progression actually improve.
Take what works to more organizations and sports.
We build locally grounded evidence on participation, retention, progression, coaching and leadership, and on the systems that shape girls' and women's experiences in sport. Most of what's published comes from elsewhere. Our work starts here.
We work alongside clubs, academies, federations and committees to turn evidence into practical tools, program models and organizational changes that fit their reality. Then we test what works and measure the results, and we stay through implementation instead of handing over a report.
Participation, retention and progression. Why girls stop playing, and what keeps them in.
What helps women enter coaching, develop, stay and progress, with meaningful support at every stage.
Stronger pathways for women to work, manage, govern and make decisions across sport.
Our first project applies the model to girls' and women's basketball in Jordan. We're talking with current and former players about what made it easier or harder to keep playing and to progress, and using what they tell us to shape practical changes with clubs.
We're looking at four areas:
The purpose is bigger than basketball. This first project will shape a method we can adapt across sports and Arab markets.
To build stronger sport systems across the Arab world so girls and women can enter, stay, progress, compete, work and lead.
An Arab world where girls and women shape the future of sport at every level.
Ruwa holds a Master of Science in Sport and Performance Psychology and works across elite performance and national sport systems in Jordan, including with the Jordan Taekwondo Federation's national and Olympic team. Working closely with female athletes, she kept seeing the same pattern: what looked like a confidence or motivation problem was often shaped by the environment around the athlete.
That changed her question from "How do we help the athlete cope better?" to "What needs to change in the system so she has a better chance to stay, progress and perform?"
She founded Arab Women and Sport to answer it.
We're looking for strategic partners, funders and experts who can help build this regional evidence and action model. If your organization wants more girls and women to enter, stay and progress in sport, we'd like to hear from you.
Better evidence. Stronger sport systems.