The Women’s Sports Network have announced today that they are kick-starting fundraising efforts to support their partnership programme with the Mary Waya Netball Academy in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Setting their target at £5,000, the money raised will be spent on translating WSNet’s NETBALLMoJo educational manual into Chichewa (Malawian national language).

NETBALLMoJo is just one of WSNet’s educational, sports manuals that are written by key contributors from around the world. The resource is designed to help women overcome many of the issues they face in both western and ‘third world’ communities starting out in netball.

“With help NETBALLMoJo can become a powerful tool to educate – girls in ‘third world communities’” says Paul Reynolds, communications director at WSNet, “but more importantly it can empower girls, to overcome ‘fear of judgement’ and build confidence through netball that can be taken into their everyday lives and careers.”

Donations from the fundraiser will also be spent on adapting the material in the guidebooks so that they can be more culturally specific. The manuals will target issues faced specifically by girls in Africa including: child marriage FGM, personal hygiene and safeguarding.

With fresh and accessible content, WSNet believe their manuals will underpin the work already done by the Mary Waya Foundation.

Founded by ex-Malawian international netballer Mary Waya, the Mary Waya Netball Academy is a non-profit sports academy in Malawi providing a platform for female athletes who aspire to become professional netballers.

Targeting netball at the grassroots level, the academy uses sport to empower vulnerable women. As well as the natural focuses of teamwork and developing friendships that are engendered by sports, the academy also offers counselling and educational support, which helps the women tackle issues such as underage marriages and initiations practices.

WSNet aims to print and deliver 1,000 copies of NETBALLMoJo to the academy to support their vital work.