The Yaya Girls Running Program seeks to create a new class of Ethiopian female role models to promote gender equality throughout Ethiopia. The ultimate goal is to help adolescent girls facing serious life challenges to become self-sufficient. A new generation of female leaders, enabled and encouraged to fight for gender equality, will help redefine the deep-seated societal norms that unfairly burd
en girls and women throughout Ethiopia. The Yaya Village Hotel is the primary sponsor of the Yaya Girls Program, which will sponsor 36 girls in its first year at full capacity. Additional sponsors include Girls Gotta Run Foundation, RunningRoom and other private donors. The program will host 12 girls every four-month running season, at a cost of $800 USD per girl. The pilot-phase launched this August with a 6km run to identify the first class of Yaya Girls. Fifty girls competed in the event. Following the competition the program selected two girls to sponsor and join the program’s pilot-phase. The pilot-phase has been an incredible learning experience for the project and has helped prepare the program to operate at full capacity this coming January. The next 6km race, on January 20th, will identify 12 girls to be admitted to the program. During their season at the Yaya Village, girls will receive extensive job training through their on-site internship. The projects head English teacher and internship coordinator, Daniel, who joined the program in September, will tailor the program’s job training to meet the specific needs of each girl. Additionally, Daniel will structure his English lessons to fit the job-skills training the girls are receiving. Each girl’s individualized job training during her four-month stay, coupled with a three-month job placement initiative, sponsored by the program, will leave Yaya graduates well equipped for finding gainful employment. As gender roles are slowly beginning to change in Ethiopian society, the time is ripe to target impoverished teenage girls with programs, such as running, that expand their life choices so that they can break free of the traditional confines society places upon them. Confronting the issues of gender inequality in Ethiopia by targeting adolescent girls and giving them support will expand these girls’ freedoms and will help break the inter-generational poverty that is passed down from disadvantaged young mothers to their children. Projects that value gender equality and women’s empowerment will more fully utilize human resources and help create a sustainable future for the country.
