Women in Sport Aotearoa launches three new initiatives

Today, Women in Sport Aotearoa, is launching three new initiatives - in time to mark both UN International Women’s Day and Women in Sport Aotearoa officially turning five.

Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa (WISPA)  is now New Zealand’s leading independent advocacy and research agency dedicated to achieving equity of opportunity for women and girls to participate, compete and build careers in play, active recreation and sport.

Today, WISPA is launching the following three new initiatives:

• The WISPA Insight Hub

• The re-launch of registrations for the 8th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport

• A new women's sports leadership series will be announced by the International Cricket Council

The WISPA Insight Hub is being launched with support from Sport NZ, HPSPZ, NZ Cricket, NZ Rugby and many other partners.

Promoted as New Zealand’s first interactive digital platform designed to empower and advance gender equity and equality for women and girls in sport and active recreation in Aotearoa, the WISPA Insight Hub will host a collection of insights, research, toolkits and case studies designed to spotlight great work and inspire individuals, community groups and organisations with ideas that can be applied practically, to enable them to also help drive change.

The Hub is set up around five themes, selected as among the most important issues: Voice and Visibility; Leadership; Participation; Indigeneity; and Youth.

WISPA Chief Executive, Rachel Froggatt notes “we’re very proud to launch the WISPA Insight Hub today with more than 20+ Insight Partners already on-board, including a range of key organisations including Sport New Zealand, New Zealand Cricket, Paralympics New Zealand, the University of Waikato and Women in Sport Otago.

“It is destined to fill a gap in the sector, giving those on the coal face immediate access to real life case studies and materials that will inspire and inform decision-making around the delivery of sport and recreation for women and girls. Over time we anticipate it will become an incredible resource.”

WISPA’s second initiative sees the re-launch of registrations for the 8th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport, postponed to November 2022. One of the ‘big four’ women's sport events coming to Aotearoa in 2022 and 2023 alongside the women's World Cups in Cricket, Rugby and Football, IWG 2022 is expected to attract a significant international delegation including the likes of the International Olympic Committee, World Rugby, UK Sport and the Women’s Sports Foundation from the United States. More that 1200 leaders will join us at the Aotea Centre and online across four days.

WISPA’s third initiative is the announcement of a new women's sports leadership series by the International Cricket Council, to be staged by WISPA with support from FTX. The six-part programme will kick-off tomorrow in Dunedin with a workshop and then hosting at the West Indies v England women's world cup match. Visit www.womeninsport.org.nz from 7pm NZT for more information.

For more information on the WISPA Insight Hub 

For more information on the 8th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport, visit www.iwgwomenandsport.org from 3pm NZT

Visit www.womeninsport.org.nz from 7pm NZT for more information on the women's sports leadership series