A year-long partnership between the World Netball Foundation (WN Foundation) and Maitrayana Charity Foundation (Maitrayana) has seen over 500 adolescent girls take part in life changing programmes.
WN Foundation partnered with Indian non-for-profit organisation, Maitrayana in April 2024.
Maitrayana, aims to leverage the power of sport, to create ecosystems that empower girls and young women to fulfil their potential, whilst also furthering girls and women’s rights, which aligns with the WN Foundation’s mission.
Through this partnership, the WN Foundation set out to give 500 girls access to life changing programmes where they will have the opportunity to take part in both netball and life skills programmes, where the girls gain knowledge about their rights, sexual and reproductive health, menstrual health and hygiene, and much more.
In 2025 WN Foundation reported that this partnership had exceeded expectations, with 530 girls having received netball and life skills training due to the grant, across both Delhi and Mumbai.
Diya, one of the graduates from the leadership programme known as YPI Pragati, has since gone on to join a local netball club, Kalachowki Netball Club, where she is now their Umpire.
Her confidence and knowledge as an Umpire is said to of transformed how community members, who had previously harassed girls on the playground, interact with the club.
Diya has now started to be invited by local teams to officiate their games changing the social dynamic and bringing positive attention to girls not only playing sport, but also building a career in it too.
Maitrayana’s CEO, Kalyani Subramanyam, said: “It is extremely powerful to see how netball has served to build these girls’ confidence and get them onto leadership pathways.”
Dame Liz Nicholl, President of WN and trustee of the WN Foundation, added: “We are proud that the World Netball Foundation has played a part in supporting Maitrayana to create opportunities for adolescent girls to prosper through netball.”
“We look forward to continuing to support organisations that want to create new possibilities for women and girls.”
To find out more about the work the WN Foundation do and how you can support them, visit their website here.
Maitrayana continues to work in the resource poor communities and schools of three metro-politan Indian cities, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, having reached over 30,000 girls and young women since 2021.
Their contribution to advancing the girls and women’s rights movement in India is a catalyst in empowering thousands of young leaders claiming space and asserting their rights in their communities.
To keep up to date on all Maitrayana’s work, make sure you are following them on social media @maitrayana.