EMPOWERMENT THROUGH RUNNING
Using outdoor sports to develop girls’ and young women’s leadership and wellness, and address gender inequity in areas of conflict.
ADVANCING GENDER EQUITY GLOBALLY THROUGH RUNNING
Founded in 2014, Free to Run works in some of the world’s most challenging regions - conflict areas where young women and girls are disproportionately affected and restrictions to their rights are often overlooked.
We use running and rights-based programs to support the leadership, agency, and health of girls and young women. Free to Run participants are given the tools to become leaders who know their rights, exercise self-determination, challenge negative gender norms, and boldly reclaim public spaces.
WE START BY CREATING SAFE SPACES
Free to Run members are community leaders, advocates, and role models in their societies, bringing people together across cultural, ethnic, and religious lines. They change views about the roles that women can, and should, play in society.
Our participants come from diverse backgrounds, but all live in places where girls’ sport is not yet common or understood. While we work closely with individuals, our goal is to drive change in community gender norms and create a systematic shift in gender equality - specifically focused on the expansion of access to public space and leadership opportunities for girls and young women.
WHERE WE WORK
Free to Run operates in some of the most challenging regions in the world, where decades of conflict and instability have resulted in extreme social isolation for women and girls as well as harassment, constrained mobility, and unequal access to their rights. Since 2014 we have worked to create positive change in the lives of thousands of young women and girls living in regions of conflict, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.
Since 2018, Free to Run has supported girls and young women from a wide variety of backgrounds in Iraq who have been affected by conflict. We work primarily in refugee and internal displacement camps and communities.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, Free to Run has been delivering our sessions cautiously and in secret. We provide indoor, trauma-informed strength training & mindfulness sessions.
Launched in July 2024 in Partnership with Palestine Sports for Life, our work in Palestine uses running and life skills sessions to support the mental health and resiliency of girls and young women in ten locations.
“The moment, when you cross the finish line, that moment is a golden time that not everybody can experience. It wouldn’t have been possible if Free to Run had not provided me this opportunity. The opportunity to know more about my strengths, my weaknesses, my mind and to feel the real freedom through observing and connecting with nature while running.”
FOLLOWING PARTICIPATION IN A FREE TO RUN PROGRAM:
80% more participants see themselves as leaders in their community
59% more participants feel comfortable saying ‘no’ in their relationships
88% of participants know of a safe place to go, vs 51% at the start
79% more participants know what menstruation is and 74% more understand how women and girls get pregnant
35% feel they will get the things they want in the future, vs 19% at the start of the program
GET INVOLVED
If you believe in the power of running to change lives, we’d love to work with you! From park runs or ultramarathons to office bake sales or school fundraisers, your help to raise awareness and funds for our programs is invaluable. Join us as we work to advance gender equity globally through running.
