Mermaids for Inclusion

The goal of the project Mermaids is to establish finswimming as a new sport in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and to use the sports environment to promote awareness raising and inclusion regarding gender equality as well as integration of ethnic and religious minorities. This will be achieved through advanced education tools and transfer of good practice from the participating Member States (Croatia and Greece). Sport activities are a strong means for inclusion and cohesive societies, since sport can create a healthy and supportive environment for socially vulnerable groups and local communities to meet and interact. This is especially important in the region of Western Balkans with ongoing challenges regarding the inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities. The project also aims at advancing gender equality which is a relevant topic for the whole region of the Balkans which is traditionally dominated by patriarchal gender norms. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo there is still a dominating stereotype of women’s roles being mainly family-oriented and caretaking rather than actively participating in public life and business. The project will have a great impact not only on coaches, athletes and participating organisations that will be directly involved in the project, but also on wider community and relevant stakeholders by setting a model for good practice of using sport as a means for social integration. Finswimming is a sport that uses bifins or a monofin. The monofin or “mermaid’s tail” makes the finswimmers often associated with mermaids and it allows them to swim approximately 12-15 times faster compared to normal classic sports swimming. For that reason it can be very attractive for dissemination activities and for attracting newcomers to the sport.