Girls Gotta Run Foundation | Empowering Ethiopian Women Runners

Conferences and Presentations

Sport in the Global South Conference II

November 12-14, 2012

Academy of International Sport

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA,USA

The Annual Sport and the Global South Conference was held at George Mason University on November 12-14, 2012. GGRF Executive Director, Kayla Nolan, was invited to present research titled “Renegotiating Gender Norms through Running in Ethiopia.” View the conference abstracts and program.

About the Conference: While sport is played all around the world, the power relationships in global sport still favor the larger nations of the Northern Hemisphere with particular sites of power located in Europe and North America. Infrastructure and opportunities are also vastly uneven throughout the world though many sport development programs have been established in the nations of the Global South. Following on from the successful Sport and the Global South: Theory Meets Practice Conference of November 2011, this conference addresses major issues facing sport in the Global South and brings together researchers and practitioners in discussions about the structural problems and the prospects for sport in the Global South during the Twenty-First Century.
World Bank Africa Film Series 2012

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Time: 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (ET)

The World Bank

1818 H Street

Preston Auditorium

Washington, DC 20006

SOLD OUT

The World Bank Africa Region presented "Town of Runners", a feature documentary about young runners from Bekoji - an Ethiopian highland town which has produced some of the world's greatest distance athletes, including Trirunesh Dibaba, Kenenisa Bekele and Derartu Tulu.The film follows the story of two young girls as they strive to emulate their local heroes, making the journey from school track to national competition and from childhood to adulthood.

Following the screening, there was a discussion with the filmmakers, Dan Demissie and Jerry Rothwell, as well as Patricia E. Ortman the Executive Director of GGRF, Greg Bundy the World Bank Country Program Coordinator for Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan, and Donald Bundy the World Bank LEad Health Specialist for the Africa Region.

Click the top left photo to see more photos of the event! Thank you Matt Andrea for all the beautiful photos!
Sport and Community Building in Africa and the Global South

April 6-7, 2012

Ohio University- Athens, Ohio

Garrett Ash, Co-founder of Running Across Borders; Pat Ortman, Founder and Executive Director of GGRF; and Kayla Nolan, GGRF Director of Outreach, Research and Development presented research titled "Supporting Impoverished Ethiopian Girls Who Are Training to Become Professional Runners: Successes, Challenges, and Future Directions" as part of the conference's opening day round table.

Click the link to view the conference program. To learn more about the 8th Sports in Africa Conference go to http://www.ohio.edu/sportsafrica/communitybuilding/

About the 8th Sports in Africa Conference:

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics in Brazil , and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar confirm the global reach of elite sports and the increased participation of Africa and the Global South. Does this trend denote fuller integration of the Global South into a world system of sports where each community thrives? Or does it indicate a gradual transformation of traditional approaches to community building and a changing definition of community itself? Building on a debate that started at the Sports in Africa Symposium at Ohio University in 2002, this conference seeks to understand and discuss the effects of mega-events and global marketing on local sports. To what degree are communities integrated into global sport and what kinds of loyalty do mega events generate locally? What roles do/can sports play in local communities in Africa and the Global South in the face of transnational sports economies? Can sports become a site for communities to reaffirm their own particularity, create new forms of solidarity and reinvent themselves?
International Conference of Ethiopian Women in the Diaspora

The Mission of the three-day Conference from March 9-11, 2012 in Washington DC was to strengthen independent voices of Ethiopian women by highlighting and examining different issues pertinent to women and their status in society. The Conference provided a forum for participants to freely and openly discuss the issues of Ethiopian women in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora. Girls Gotta Run Foundation was proud to both attend and present research at the conference.

GGRF Director of Outreach, Research and Development, Kayla Nolan, was invited to present research titled "More than a Sport: Gender Relations, Running and the Ethiopian National Identity" at the conference. Click the links to view the conference program and Kayla Nolan's presentation. To learn more about the annual conference, please visit http://www.ethiowomenconfrence.org/ Click the photo to see more photos from the event.
Sport and the Global South 2011

Sport and the Global South: Linking Theory and Practice

An International Conference

Hosted by the Academy of International Sport George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

November 15-16, 2011

Garrett Ash, US Director of Running Across Borders presented "Supporting Impoverished Ethiopian Girls Who Are Training to Become Professional Runners: Successes, Challenges, and Future Directions". Kayla Nolan, GGRF Director of Research, Outreach and Development, also presented "More than a Sport: Gender Relations, Running and the Ethiopian National Identity" indepedantly.

View the conference abstracts and program.

About the Conference: While sport is played all around the world, the power relationships in global sport still favor the larger nations of the Northern Hemisphere with particular sites of power located in Europe and North America. Infrastructure and opportunities are also vastly uneven throughout the world though many sport development programs have been established in the nations of the Global South. This conference addressed major issues facing sport in the Global South and brings together researchers and practitioners in discussions about the structural problems and the prospects for sport in the Global South during the Twenty-First Century.
Presentation at the American Council on Education

April 28, 2009, 12:00-1:30pm

American Council on Education

One Dupont Circle, 8th Floor Kellogg Room

Pat Ortman of GGRF was invited to give a presentation at the monthly meeting of the National Clearinghouse of Women's Issues held at the American Council of Education.
Presentation at the Community College of Baltimore County

November 26, 2007

Pat Ortman and Marie Hagen were invited to give the presentation, "Girls Gotta Run: Artists Supporting Ethiopian Athletes" at Community College of Baltimore County, Essex Campus.
Presentation at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

October 18, 2007

Presentation at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey & Exhibit Reception at The Yoganine Mind/Body Studio, Store and Cafe

After a great front page article in the Monday, October 15, issue of the student newspaper, the Argo, by Alyssa Fanz, about 35 faculty,staff and students showed up for my Girls Gotta Run talk in the beautiful and beautifully equipped multi-purpose room of the Learning Center. We were able to access the GGRF website and display it on a large movie screen in the front. So, after Professor Deborah Gussman introduced me and I talked about how the Foundation had gotten started, we cruised the site for additional interesting facts and checked out the past events, the artwork and the artists. I ended the talk with a showing of the work in progress Girls Gotta Run DVD, which prompted spontaneous clapping from the assembled group and many good questions and suggestions. I had a chance to meet and chat with a number of Stockton students and faculty members, including Professor Ellen Mutari, Chair of the Women’s Studies Program, and Alyssa Fanz, before Deborah and I left to attend a small but lovely reception at the Yoga Nine Studio, Store and Café.