Free to Run
Grant Amount: $49,896
Grantee Website: https://freetorun.org/
Mission of Free to Run
The mission of Free to Run is to advance gender equity globally through running.
Summary
With this grant, we are funding Free to Run’s psychosomatic, virtual/indoors Omid 2.0 program with 150 adolescent girls and young women across three provinces in Afghanistan to improve mental health and enhance life and leadership skills. Omid 2.0 includes sessions on emotional regulation, self-awareness, communication, negotiation, the nervous system, mindfulness, and meditation. Sessions incorporate yoga poses, breathwork, physical strengthening, and play-based activities to foster learning and engagement. Graduates connect with in-country and diaspora alumni for ongoing mentorship and access to learning resources.
The following are the expected impacts of this grant:
Direct: 150 Indirect: 450
Why We Love This
Free to Run's story began in Afghanistan a little over a decade ago when human rights lawyer and ultra marathoner Stephanie Case - stationed in the country at the time - was approached by local Afghan women eager to join her run training. What began as an informal all-women's running/hiking/walking group soon led to running-based leadership programs across five provinces.
Today, under the Taliban's regime, with increasing limitations on women's mobility, freedom, access to education, and sport and recreational opportunities, the program looks very different. Catering to the current need, Free to Run operates a clandestine, indoor yoga-based psychosomatic program designed to improve the mental health and resilience of Afghan women and girls. The program is titled Omid (meaning 'Hope' in Dari) with a vision to provide hope to the forgotten Afghan woman, who continues to resist through movement and connection in a restrictive environment.