PARA POWERLIFTING DEVELOPMENT

GENDER EQUITY : She can lift

“She Can Lift”: Women in Para Powerlifting Programme launched in 2018 through support of the Agitos Foundation to improve the gender equity in the sport. 

Since its launch, hundreds of women have been directly impacted and empowered through the delivery of coach and technical official certification courses and mentorship opportunities face-to-face and online. 

Women interested in taking part in the programme in the future should contact Info@WorldParaPowerlifting.org.

In 2021, World Para Powerlifting and “She Can Lift” was recognised by the International Paralympic Committee as the winner of their International Women’s Day Recognition Award in the international federation category.

Also in 2021, “She Can Lift” expanded with the delivery of the Gender Equity and Leadership Conference to coincide with International Women’s Day.

The Lift Educational Video Database (LiftED) was launched in 2020 as a tool for athletes, coaches, technical officials and classifiers. 

LiftED features thousands of athletes’ competition lift videos filmed from technical angles, tagged with performance data. 

LiftED allows stakeholders, from the grassroots to high performance level, the opportunity to review and study lift attempts at no cost.

To access LiftED, visit

World Para Powerlifting runs a uniform donation programme that provides athletes a compliant uniform through collaboration with different approved suppliers. Since 2015, athletes from over thirty countries have been impacted across competitions, including the Paralympic Games.

The Programme is organised on an ongoing basis. 

Athletes in need of a competition uniform should contact Info@WorldParaPowerlifting.org

World Para Powerlifting delivers a Solidarity Programme that supports athletes and their coaches from developing countries the opportunity to compete at competitions, including the World Championships. 

The Programme has impacted hundreds of athletes, and is supported by collected technical challenge fees and other sources. 

The Programme is organised on an ongoing basis. Athletes and their coaches will be contacted through their federation regarding opportunities. 

World Para Powerlifting runs an Equipment Donation Programme that provides federations compliant equipment through collaboration with official partners and approved suppliers.

The Programme has provided nearly one hundred sets of benches, bars and discs to different countries, further developing the sport across different regions. 

The Programme is organised on an ongoing basis. Federations will be contacted regarding opportunities. 

World Para Powerlifting delivers an African Development Programme to grow the sport and technical expertise in the region through the support of different grants. 

In 2017, World Para Powerlifting, with the support of the Agitos Foundation, organised a mega workshop, certifying technical officials, classifiers and coaches from thirteen African countries, and organising an athlete training camp. 

In 2018, World Para Powerlifting, again with the support of the Agitos Foundation, delivered a competition hosting course for administrators, which resulted in the hosting of multiple international competitions, including the Algiers 2018 African Championships and Abuja 2020 World Cup. 

In 2019, World Para Powerlifting, with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office, organised certification courses for technical officials and coaches from Francophone African countries. 

Please read the news about this programme, visit the following articles.

1. Technical officials certified ahead of African Para Games

2. African countries target powerlifting progress

3. Powerlifting professionals progress in Nigeria

World Para Powerlifting organises a Webinar Series for athletes, coaches, technical officials, classifiers and administrators, experienced and new to the sport. 

The Webinar Series features speakers on a variety of topics including officiating, research in the sport, anti-doping, among others. 

Webinars are delivered in English but feature subtitles in several languages. The Webinar Series is free and open to anyone interested. 

To access the Webinar Series, visit here.  The press release can be found here.

World Para Powerlifting delivers an athlete career transition programme called “More Than A Lifter”. Launched in 2020, “More Than A Lifter” invites athletes who competed at the Paralympic Games the opportunity to participate in coach and technical official certification courses to remain involved in Para powerling.

Current and former athletes interested in taking part in the Programme in the future should contact Info@WorldParaPowerlifting.org. 

World Para Powerlifting organises a Mentorship Programme for technical officials, coaches and classifiers to share ideas and knowledge, confront challenges and learn from others’ experiences. 

Since launching in 2020, mentees and mentors have been impacted from Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia. 

The Programme is organised on an ongoing basis. Stakeholders will be contacted regarding opportunity.