Project Good for Girls is a not-for-profit organization that supports girls in countries around the world to gain the education, skills and self-esteem they need to become independent, empowered adults able to realize their full potential and be forces for change in their communities.
If you’re in New York City on 10th December 2025, please join us for an evening of inspiration and connection, hosted by our friends at Dagne Dover at their Soho store, from 6.00-8.00pm.
Get into the holiday spirit with us as we raise funds to support building girls’ skills for sustainable livelihoods through impactful programs by our partner in Ethiopia, Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF).
This event is part of our annual fundraising campaign – any and all contributions are welcome, and can be made either through the event ticketing site, or through our main fundraiser site. (Donations are tax-exempt to the full extent of the law).
The funds we raised last year helped our partner organization in Ethiopia – Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF) – pilot a self-defence programme for adolescent girls, after their mothers raised concerns about a rise in traditional ‘abduction’ practices in Soddo (where the programme is based). Thanks to YOUR support the new self-defence initiative got off to a roaring start. 50 girls received hands-on training in taekwondo-based self-defence, as part of critical life skills learning. Their training is continuing, and more girls will soon be added to the group.
Over the next 2 years, we hope to focus our efforts on empowering adolescent girls who are alumni of our partner GGRF’s athletic scholars programme. Because of the success of the programme, these girls are avoiding early marriage and completing high school. Some hope to continue their education in college, while others have dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. We hope to support vocational training to help girls develop the necessary skills they need to start small businesses such as sewing and needlework, hairdressing, and shopkeeping (all based on requests from the girls themselves).
We also want to help grow something that so many of us take for granted. Digital literacy. This remains an immense challenge in Ethiopia for young people, because of poor tech infrastructure, and limited to no access to devices and the internet. Girls are especially impacted – cultural stereotypes mean that technology of any kind is still viewed as a male domain. Many families also simply cannot afford to pay for internet access, or devices, much less learn how to use them. This will shut out too many young people from 21st century digital economy opportunities.
This year, a few laptops and mobile devices were procured for the girls by GGRF, and the hunger to learn how to use these was insatiable!! Plans are now underway to create two computer labs, one in each programme location, which will serve as a safe space for girls to study and develop their digital skills. Launching the labs, complete with space rental, equipment, devices and staffing will cost $20,000 over the course of a year.
We hope to raise $10,000 to fully launch one of the labs. Is this ambitious? YES. Can we do it? WE THINK ALSO YES!
Project Good for Girls is proud to continue partnering with GGRF to expand its support for adolescent girls both joining the programme, and as alumni so they can continue with their studies, develop important life and vocational skills, and become leaders in their communities.
When girls feel safe, they are far more likely to stay in school, delay marriage, and pursue their goals without fear holding them back.
Just over a year ago, our partner organization in Ethiopia, Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF), asked our help to pilot a new initiative for their athletic scholars programme – self-defence training for the girls as part of important life skills learning.
Self-defence was requested by the mothers of the girls, who were worried about a recent rise in ‘telefa’ (abduction), a traditional practice where men kidnap girls, rape them, and then legally and culturally claim them as wives. Telefa has received international attention due to the brave actions of girls who stood up for themselves, and women who supported them, such as depicted in the 2014 film ‘Difret’. The practice is prevalent particularly in the Southern region (where the GGRF Soddo programme is), with estimates that 1 in 5 child marriages are directly because of it.
Fearing for their daughters’ safety as they walk long distances to and from school, the mothers are hoping that basic self-defence could help act as a deterrent. One mother, Mebrat, told how she was abducted as a girl and later abandoned as a pregnant young woman. She is raising her daughter alone, working as a hairdresser. “Now I want better for my daughter than the life I had. My dream is that my daughter will choose her own path, as I was not allowed to do,” she said.
After a micro-grant of $4000 to kick-start the initiative, we followed up with a larger impact grant to strengthen the sustainability of the work, and to ensure the girls would be able to practice consistently to develop their skills.
GGRF is partnering with the Studio Samuel Foundation (SSF, based in Addis Ababa) to carry out the training. SSF provides disadvantaged women and girls with vocational training, after-school tutoring, and leadership development, and in addition, has a signature martial arts and mental health programme, led by a former SSF student, which helps girls build confidence, discipline, resilience, and agency. The pilot activity was a four day workshop in Soddo with intensive training for a GGRF coach on taekwondo-based self-defense skills, hands-on training for 50 girls led by SSF instructors, and a series of lessons on resilience, situational awareness, boundary-setting and self-advocacy to highlight the importance of the mental and emotional aspects of self-defense. Practice has continued, with guidance from SSF, and another intensive workshop will be held in November 2025 to re-inforce learning.
Project Good for Girls 