Footprints Foundation, an non-profit organisation (NPO), and FootGolf South Africa (FGSA) launched Walk Her Story at the Southern Sun Rosebank.

Unveiled on April 30, Walk Her Story is a campaign that goes beyond awareness raising, to build a structured, evidence-based, nationally deployed sport for development intervention against gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa.

It is a 24-month, nine-province initiative, designed to address GBV at its developmental root, focusing on prevention, healing, and youth empowerment, rather than awareness alone.

Read more: Children and authors make reading fun at the Nelson Mandela Foundation

The launch brought together government, continental development bodies, corporate leaders, GBV survivors, youth performers, and civil society organisations in a programme that embodies the campaign’s five pillars:

Walk, Pledge, Story, Partner, and Volunteer.

The 5 pillars explained:

• Walk Against GBV: Community walking events, anchored by FootGolf sessions, are organised across all nine provinces. Each walk is a visible, public act of solidarity, turning physical movement into collective statement.
• CEO and leadership pledge: South African business and institutional leaders are invited to sign a formal, public pledge, committing their organisations to zero tolerance for GBV and active support for girls’ safety and development. The pledge architecture, with formal certification, named public commitments, and 24-month accountability, was designed to go beyond symbolic gesture.
• Survivor storytelling: Walk Her Story uses storytelling as a therapeutic means. Structured, trauma-informed storytelling sessions give survivors the space to move from victim, to witness, to author of their own experience.
• Strategic partnerships: The campaign is supported by the department of basic education, AUNEPAD, corporate civil society in South Africa, and many other partners.
• Volunteer mobilisation.: Volunteers are not support staff in Walk Her Story, but are the campaign. Walk marshals, storytelling circle co-facilitators, youth ambassadors, and provincial champions form a structured volunteer architecture that carries the campaign into every neighbourhood, school, and village across nine provinces.

Also read: Footprints Foundation and FootGolf SA join forces to launch Walk Her Story

FootGolf as the sport for development vehicle

FGSA, the national governing body affiliated to the International Federation of FootGolf (FIFG) since 2022, is the sport infrastructure backbone of Walk Her Story.

FGSA’s club network across Gauteng, North West, Limpopo, and other provinces provides the established physical infrastructure through which the campaign’s programme is delivered.

FGSA’s participation in the 2026 FIFG FootGolf World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico, and the inaugural FIFG Youth World Cup in Gahlenz, Germany, carries the Walk Her Story brand to a global audience.

FGSA is the only national sport governing body in South Africa formally integrated into a GBV prevention and girls empowerment campaign.

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