We Ride For Africa
Skate Gal Club: the first club to empower girls and women through skateboarding.
Location of impact : Ghana
Grant : 2500€
Project supported in 2020-2021
Created by women and for women, the club is the little sister of Surf Ghana – the first collective to develop skateboarding and surfing in Ghana since 2016. The ambition is to cultivate the talent of young female skateboarders and create the best possible ecosystem for them to train and compete on the local scene.
It is a free monthly meet-up created in 2019 with the aim of contributing to the empowerment and emancipation of women through skateboarding and artistic workshops. At the Skate Gal Club’s very first event, more than 60 girls showed up, and they have since taught more than 200 other young women to skateboard.
In addition to these meetings, its active members are working on the creation of a fanzine-style magazine “made in Ghana”: Art & Skate in favour of the social integration of women in Ghana and dedicated to the practice of skateboarding in Ghana. A project initiated during the Covid-19 crisis carried out exclusively by the female members of the Surf Ghana sports collective to support and develop the creativity of young women unable to practice their favourite sport, skateboarding. A project also aiming to restore the balance of women’s participation in a predominantly male sport ecosystem.
“Our collective craves a space to call women, where they don’t have to feel threatened, hit on, talked over, or mansplained to. Where they can learn from each other, feel positive and get inspired. We hope with this project that we can create a better equal representation of women and men. Through extreme sport, women practice being open and authentically themselves, we think that we help give them the courage to feel more comfortable in Ghana, knowing that a skate gal club is here and got their back. So, until we see parity in Ghana or Africa in general, we are honoured to keep hosting these events and supporting this extraordinary group of young Ghanaian women.”
the organisation carrying the project
Created by Sandy Alibo in 2017, We ride for Africa is the non-profit organization that carries the Surf Ghana and Skate Gal Club projects. The more global mission of the non-profit organization is to encourage the practice of board sports and eco-citizen actions in West Africa in favor of children, teenagers and young adults. The association participates in the development of children’s schooling through the establishment of partnerships with qualified organizations: school outings with initiation to board sports, sponsorship of young athletes to facilitate their return to school.
We Ride for Africa aims to use the practice of board sports as a tool for education, social integration and skills development with the objective of equipping West Africa by collecting used equipment dedicated to the practice of board sports. The association organizes cultural and sports events and has the ambition to create sports facilities such as skateparks, or living spaces dedicated to the culture of board sports. Board sports are growing in West Africa: to encourage the transfer of skills to West Africa, particularly through the discovery of professions related to the practice of board sports and through international sporting and cultural exchanges, helps to create a virtuous ecosystem of exchange for all dedicated to socio-professional integration.
how are donations used
Donations received throughout the year are used for the following purposes:
- Importing and distributing the material collected in Europe
- Providing weekly courses by sports coaches in Ghana in the city of Accra / Kumasi / Busua
- Organize an annual solidarity sports trip
- Creating the future skatepark for the future city of Accra
- Create a new surf school in the village of Busua
- Creation of the magazine Art & Skate by the Skate Gal Club
key figures
- 15 sporting events (initiation, competition, festivals, solidarity trips)
- 230 sports equipment collected
- +2000 students participated in the association’s surfing and skateboarding course.
- 16 young people have started a professional activity related to skateboarding and surfing.
- 12 girls are actively skateboarding and are able to participate in international competitions.
- A digital community of 8500 members
