Girls Gotta Run is the only non-profit organization in Ethiopia dedicated to using the national sport of running as an innovative approach to creating safe spaces, ending child marriage and expanding access to secondary school for vulnerable girls.
Girls Gotta Run programs focus on four key investment strategies for girls and their mothers: education, running, life skills, and savings and entrepreneurship.
Girls Gotta Run provides adolescent girls with full scholarships to attend primary and secondary school. The scholarships include a medical subsidy for the students and their moms, daily meals, uniforms, school supplies, tutoring, soap, sanitary pads, showers and space to wash clothes on the weekend. Girls Gotta Run also covers the cost of annual school exams that allow students to graduate into higher levels of education.
Girls Gotta Run Athletic Scholars meet three times per week to run as a team and train under the direction of their Coach. Their schedule allows them to train without sacrificing the time they need for homework and family obligations. Each girl is provided with athletic gear, running shoes, water, and healthy snacks after each practice. TheGirls Gotta Run teams also compete in one local race annually.
Girls Gotta Run creates safe spaces for girls by establishing life skills clubs where girls learn critical lessons needed in navigating adolescence. In these clubs, they are also able to build a community of peers. Each Saturday, the Girls Gotta Run Athletic Scholars complete life skills lessons with a monthly theme organized by their Female Mentor. The curriculum for these lessons was co-developed by the Center for Creative Leadership and Girls Gotta Run to provide experiential learning modules on family planning, financial literacy, HIV/AIDS awareness, nutrition, healthy relationships, leadership, and creative expression. Upon completing the year long life skills course, the Athletic Scholars become peer educators for the incoming class of female students.
Girls Gotta Run helps to establish savings and entrepreneurship groups with the mothers of the girls to whom we provide Athletic Scholarships. Mothers are provided with a 5-day business development workshop, seed capital to establish a savings group, and the weekly oversight of a female savings group manager. At the end of the three-year program, participating mothers are invited to continue to invest in and develop their savings groups. This program strategy equips mothers with the knowledge, tools, and mentorship needed to build financially resilient futures for themselves and their families.
Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)
The CCL is a global organization with a mission to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. The CCL Africa Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia collaborated with Girls Gotta Run to co-create the experiential learning modules on community service, leadership, creative expression, healthy relationships, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and financial literacy that serve as the life-skills component of the Girls Gotta Run Athletic Scholarship. The curriculum is built around learning modules developed by the CCL and USAID for girls in Ethiopia and is delivered in the local national language, Amharic or Oromic.
Siquee Women’s Development Association (SWDA)
SWDA was founded in 1997 with the aim of empowering disadvantaged women, girls, and children to improve their social and economic well-being and develop their capacity as active, productive, and respected members of their communities. The Siquee Association has more than 18 years of experience in developing successful savings groups with women throughout Ethiopia. Girls Gotta Run is proud to work with SWDA to implement, oversee, and evaluate the Athletic Scholarship Program in Bekoji, Ethiopia.
Abba Pascal School Girls' School
In Soddo, Girls Gotta Run partners with the Abba Pascal Girls' School to provide quality, girl-centered education for Athletic Scholars. The Abba Pascal School was founded in 1933. Since then, the school has seen an increase in students attending as well as a decrease in the number of students dropping out. In 2009, the dropout rate for Abba Pascal Girls’ School was 12%, in line with the rest of the country. Today, the drop out rate has been reduced to 3.18%. Impressively, all of the girls who attended the school through 12th grade are now attending University courses. Girls Gotta Run is proud to partner with the Abba Pascal School to provide robust academic scholarships for girls from disadvantaged communities in Soddo, Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Women’s and Children’s Affairs Office
Girls Gotta Run works closely with the local and regional Women’s and Children’s Office in Bekoji to monitor and oversee program implementation. Girls Gotta Run collaborates with these government offices to build tailored solutions to the unique challenges that girls and women face in the Bekoji community.
Ethiopian Youth and Sport Office
Girls Gotta Run works with the National Ethiopian Youth and Sports Office to connect athletes with opportunities to race in local and national competitions. This partnership also provides opportunities for Girls Gotta Run Athletic Scholars to meet female role models in the Ethiopia Athletics Federation and for Girls Gotta Run to align our athletic training curriculum with the national standard.
