Engage Her
The Engage Her Programme will strengthen your club’s understanding and skills around how to engage more women & girls in sport.
Groups complete a training programme of four workshops/sessions designed to increase grassroots understanding and knowledge on how to engage women and girls from their local area.
Groups receive support from Sported to develop a Women & Girls Engagement Plan.
They can then apply for up to £2,000 grant funding to put this plan into action.
Who is eligible to apply?
To be eligible for the Engage Her training and grants programme, you must meet the following criteria:
Groups must be based in Northern Ireland.
We welcome applications from not-for-profit organisations, including charities, community groups and traditional sports clubs.
Groups must commit to completing four Engage Her training sessions/workshops that will be held locally at a time to suit you, and work with a Sported volunteer consultant to create an engagement action plan.
Applicants must demonstrate that they are / plan to support women and girls.
There are limited places on this programme. If we are oversubscribed, Sported will determine successful applications based on the information provided in the Expression of Interest and will prioritise applications to ensure a geographical spread and range of sports.
We will prioritise applications from organisations that operate in and support people from areas of high deprivation. If you are unsuccessful, we will support you with online resources and signposting to other funding programmes that may be appropriate.
To check you are eligible and make sure you have all the information you need to apply, please read the frequently asked questions below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Engage Her
Expressions of interest will be received until 5pm 8 December 2025.
All applicants will be contacted by Sported by 16 December. Successful applicants will begin their training in December 2026.
No – the Engage Her training will support you to develop a women & girls engagement plan. The grant funding is designed to support you to implement this plan.
Groups will complete four workshops/sessions designed to increase grassroots understanding and knowledge on how to engage women and girls from your local area. The content of each session is a mixture of sharing insight & research, facilitated conversations and completing tasks designed to highlight actions.
We strongly recommend there are at least three members from your club/group’s leadership in attendance and encourage you to include coaches so they can apply learning. The sessions are for both men and women within your club, as you will all work together to create positive change.
The funding will be unrestricted but should be used to implement actions highlighted in your Engagement Plan. You will upload the plan as part of the grant application process.
You can apply for the £2,000 grant once you have completed the training sessions and developed your engagement plan. Funding will be received by June 2026 at the latest.
The funding should be spent by March 2027.
Sported will ask for feedback following the training programme around any key skills or knowledge gained.
We will ask for feedback on how the funding has supported the development of women and girls’ activities at your club, and demographics of any new participants. Some groups may be selected for an audit and required to provide copies of receipts.
You are eligible to apply, but note that we will prioritise applications from groups who have not previously been part of the Engage Her programme
You are eligible to apply but note that, if oversubscribed, we will prioritise applications from groups who have not recently received funding from Sported.
No, but you must confirm you are a not-for-profit organisation and have a bank account in the name of your organisation.
HOW to apply
Please complete the short Expression of Interest form below.
The Sported team will assess your suitability for the programme and be in touch.
