Atoot

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Atoot is a non profit which uses football sessions �, extra educational classes �, life skill workshops & positive mentorship to empower & educate marginalized girls in rural Nepal.

18/08/2026

🐍🌿 Guess what Naag Panchami looks like in our community? 👀

Naag Panchami is a cherished Hindu festival with:
A swing under the tree.
A plate full of homemade local treats.
Lots of laughter.
And, of course…the Atoot team trying to keep up with the girls in the swings! 😂💚

Every year, our girls and their families invite us to be part of their Naag Panchami celebrations — and every year, we're reminded that some of the most meaningful moments happen far outside our football sessions and classrooms.

This year was no different. We swung, we ate, we laughed, and we celebrated together. 🎊🌸

Community connection isn't just about showing up for the work. It's about showing up for the joy too.

Community. Connection. Celebration. Smashing patriarchy — one swing at a time. 🌿💚💪🏾

11/08/2026

Showing up, every week. 🏡💚

Every week, the Atoot field team visits the families and communities we work with. No formal agenda — just showing up, saying Namaste, and taking the time to listen.

This week, the mothers had something on their minds. Their children, they said, are constantly on their phones at home. They shared their frustrations openly, hoping Atoot could help — talk some sense into them, be the voice that lands a little differently than a parent's.

That kind of honesty doesn't come from nowhere. It comes from years of showing up, week after week, and building the kind of trust where a mother feels comfortable enough to share what is worrying her.

Community engagement at Atoot has always been this — relationships built visit by visit, conversation by conversation. Because the work we do with girls only goes as deep as the trust we build with the families around them.

07/08/2026

One screen. Three countries. Countless connections. 🌍⚽

As part of the Khel Pou Lavi Project — our year-long cross-cultural collaboration with GOALS Haiti and Sacred Sports Foundation in St. Lucia, under Common Goal's Equal Play Effect — we screened videos from our partners, through which our girls travelled beyond Nepal without ever leaving the Atoot community centre.

Through these screenings and exchanges over the past year, our girls have had a window into what life looks like on the other side of the world.

The conversations that followed were full of curiosity. They noticed the similarities first — farming, local produce, and a shared love for football. Then came the differences: curly hair, islands surrounded by the sea, and cultures they had never seen before. They had questions about everything.

It was the perfect way to close this chapter.

Over the past year, our girls have participated in monthly Purposeful Play sessions, cross-cultural exchanges, and a coaches exchange programme that took Monika all the way to St. Lucia. Through videos, shared stories, and meaningful
connections, they discovered that while cultures and environments may differ, the joy of football and the dreams of young girls are universal.

To Common Goal GOALS Haiti, and — thank you for making this journey possible. What a year it has been. 💙

04/08/2026

What happens after the training? The real learning begins. 💙

While our ground remains flooded during the monsoon, Atoot doesn't pause — we plan around it. This week, that meant putting our U-16 assistant coaches to work.

Having spent last week learning the foundations of football session planning, they stepped up to lead sessions with our younger girls. Using warm-up games drawn from local games they grew up playing in their communities, they designed and delivered activities that were fun, engaging, and entirely their own.

Some of them were remarkable. Watching our U-16s lead the U-7s — with confidence, patience, and real presence — was one of those moments that reminds you why this pathway exists.

Throughout the sessions, Atoot staff observed and shared feedback, helping each young coach reflect on what went well and where they could grow. Because leadership isn't built in a single workshop. It grows through practice, honest reflection, and the willingness to keep showing up. 🙌🏾

This is not a one-off workshop. It is part of a deliberate, ongoing pathway — one that takes a girl from player to assistant coach to confident leader, step by step, season by season. Planning sessions, delivering them, receiving feedback, reflecting, and going again. ✨ This is how Atoot's peer leadership pipeline works in practice. And this is how Atoot uses every season — including the ones when the field is underwater. 💛

Common Goal

31/07/2026

🖥 At Atoot, digital literacy begins with curiosity.

This week, our U-13 girls took their very first steps into the digital world through a week-long introduction to laptops. They learned the basics: how to turn a laptop on and off, understand the keyboard and mouse, check the time and date, and use the search ⌨️🖱📅

For almost all the girls, this was the first time they had ever touched a laptop. At first, they were hesitant.

"No, Didi... if I touch it, maybe it will stop working or get ruined."

But as they watched their friends explore with confidence, hesitation slowly turned into curiosity. Soon, every girl wanted a turn. By the end of the week, the room was filled with smiles, excitement, and growing confidence.

The digital divide doesn't close with laptops alone. It closes when girls are given the opportunity, encouragement, and confidence to use them — and when organisations like Twimbit twimbit make that access possible. 💙

28/07/2026

Planning with purpose. ⭐⚽

At Atoot, our 25+ U-16 girls are assistant coaches — not in training for some distant future role, but actively leading sessions for younger players right now, as part of our formal peer leadership pipeline.

Last week, Programme Coordinator Monika ran a football session planning workshop with them — helping them build the skills to structure purposeful, engaging coaching sessions from start to finish.

The highlight? When it came to designing warm-up activities, the girls didn't look far for inspiration. They reached back into their own childhoods — pulling out local games they had grown up playing in their communities — and built them into their session plans. Knowledge that already lived in them, now being passed on.

This is what the Atoot coaching pathway looks like in practice. Girls who were once players, now becoming the coaches, mentors, and leaders that younger girls will look up to. 💙

Common Goal

24/07/2026

The rain has flooded our football ground, but it hasn't stopped our girls. 🌧️💙

Every monsoon, our football pitch disappears under water for weeks, sometimes months. The space where our girls run, play, and build confidence becomes impossible to use. This is an annual reality we have learned to plan around — and with increasingly unpredictable rainfall patterns, one that is becoming harder to predict each year.

It's disappointing for them. They ask us every day, "When can we play football again?" And honestly, we can't wait for that day either.

But that doesn't mean Atoot stops. We move indoors. The classroom becomes the pitch — filled with play-based activities, creative games, art, teamwork challenges, and life skills workshops. The girls still learn, support one another, and leave each session smiling.

This is what resilience looks like. It's not about having perfect conditions — it's about making sure every girl continues to learn, grow, and feel seen, no matter the season.

The field may be underwater, but our commitment to these girls never is. 💜⚽

21/07/2026

After a two-week Ropa (rice planting) break, the laughter is back and Atoot is full of life once more.

After spending weeks helping their families in the rice fields, the girls returned with tired hands but bright smiles. The first day back was filled with stories from the holidays, warm conversations with staff, endless laughter, and the joy of seeing friends who had been missed. You could feel the excitement in every hug and every smile.

Welcome back. We are so excited for another season of learning, growing, and playing together. 💚

17/07/2026

This is what freedom looks like. 💙⚽

For many of our girls, the football field is the one place where they can simply be children — running, laughing, and taking up space without permission. Away from household responsibilities and expectations, this is their space.

That matters more than we can put into words.

14/07/2026

What Monika brought home. 🇳🇵🤝🏿 🇱🇨

After returning from the Khel Pou Lavi (Play For Life) Coaches Exchange in St. Lucia, Monika brought the experience straight back to the Atoot team.

In a presentation to staff, she walked everyone through her journey — the coaching sessions, the culture, the people, and what surprised her. Her favourite reflection? St. Lucia felt like a "mini Nepal" — similar winding roads, similar hills, an unexpected familiarity thousands of kilometres from home.

Then came the food. Rice, vegetables, and meat are staples in St. Lucia too — but the flavours were so different that Monika survived largely on apples and fresh fruit juices. Fish is considered vegetarian there, which sparked a lively team discussion about appreciating difference when you travel, even when every part of you is craving what you know.

But Monika didn't just share stories. She brought the coaching room in St. Lucia into a room in Lumbini — leading the team through activities she had learned during the exchange. One team-building game highlighted how coaches can overlook small details that make a big difference. Another, "Walk to What Matters," invited team members to move towards what makes them feel safe, connected, and ready to learn — a reminder that every coach brings their own unique perspective to the field.

This is what Khel Pou Lavi looks like when it comes home. Not just new techniques, but new conversations and a team that now feels connected to something that happened thousands of kilometres away.

The impact of this exchange is only just beginning. Monika will now bring everything she learned — the activities, the coaching insights, the conversations — directly to the Atoot girls. Stay tuned. 💜⚽

FootballForGood

Address

Kapilvastu

Website

https://atootgirls.org/

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