Girls Gotta Run Foundation
Life Skills and Vocational Training for Teens
Location: Ethiopia
Sponsor: Gelila Bekele
Girls Gotta Run Foundation: A first-time grantee in 2024
GGRF is 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. GGRF selects girls from low income families who have academic determination and athletic potential, and offers programs that provide the girls with the tools they need to navigate the challenges they face during adolescence. Programs focus on four key investment strategies for girls and their mothers: education, running, life skills, and savings and entrepreneurship.
GGRF utilizes running as a foundation for girls to develop personal agency and empowerment. GGRF supports girls when they’re most likely to drop out of school, by providing scholarships to reduce the barriers they face. The girls have access to education and sports training as well as leadership development and social support networks. This allows the girls to shape their own future, change the trajectory of their lives and create generational change. GGRF also invests in the girls’ mothers through funding, savings programs, and financial literacy training in order to strengthen the financial stability of the girls’ families.
For more information, see: girlsgottarun.org
GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
2024: A grant of $40,000 will provide Life Skills classes for older teen girls still in secondary school, and give them skills to improve their family’s economic well-being. GGRF will use a hands-on immersive learning process to engage the older teens in the business aspects of GGRF meal provision. This will not only offer immediate financial support but also instill crucial business skills including goal setting, personal finance management, and vocational training while directly impacting the community’s economy and providing a sustainable path out of poverty.
GOAL
GGRF uses running and academics to empower girls in Ethiopia to become contributing members of their communities. GGRF’s mission is to end child marriage and generational poverty through education and skills and financial training.
